Suzume
by Fluffaluffaguss
Summary: A young girl is found on the outskirts of the Sand village. Growing up she has always been close to Gaara, but when her life is turned upside down will her new interest cause her to leave all that she knows to be with him? Slight changes to the actual story of Naruto and Naruto Shippuden. Pairings of OCxGaara and OCxHidan.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Under the star filled night Rasa and Karura walked while the cool wind brushed by them. Karura was heavily pregnant with the fourth kazekage's third child. Rasa looked over at her with concern, he had not wanted to have the one tails sealed within his unborn child, but karura had had no choice in the matter. He looked up at the infinite amount of starts and hoped that everything would be ok when the baby would be born.

"Do you hear that?"

Snapping out of his daze at Karura's question the kazekage stopped and listened to their surroundings. The faint sound of a baby's cry could be heard.

"You hear that right?"

Karura looked at her husband and then back to a rock formation where the sound was emanating from.

"We should just ignore it and head back to the village." Rasa said as he began to turn around.

"What?! We can't just leave a baby out here in the desert!"

"What if it's a trap?" Rasa looked at his wife with concern and fear in his eyes.

"What if it's a rough ninja or an assassin sent to find us?"

Karura looked at Rasa with such determination that Rasa knew he had lost before she even spoke.

"What if it's a baby who needs our help and will die otherwise."

Knowing that he had lost this battle and that his wife would not back down when it came to protecting children he conceded.

"Fine. I'll go check it out…. But if anything happens, promise me that you will run back to the village, find your brother, and stay safe."

"Fine." Karura agreed as she watched her husband slowly approach the formation.

Creeping slowly Rasa climbed up the few boulders before reaching a shallow cave. Inside he saw the tiny outline of a baby that was crying. Looking around he gently lifted up the child and brought it close to him as he descended back down. As he reunited with his wife she took the child from him and it began to slowly stop its crying and drift off into a peaceful sleep. This did not surprise the kazekage at all, his wife has always been great with kids, especially their own, it was one of her many traits that he loved about her.

"We should take her home and make sure she's ok." Karura said soothingly.

"How do you know it's a she?" Rasa asked slowly lifting his eyebrow and tilting his head.

"I just know." Karura smiled.

Back at the kazekage house Rasa and Karura were about to lie down for the night.

"You know we can't keep her right?" Rasa already knew that her maternal instincts were on overload. His head kept spinning on all the questions that would be asked by the village and the elders. Where had she come from? Why was she left there? Who were her parents? What was going to happen to her?

"Save all your worrying until tomorrow dear." Karura interrupted his thoughts with a smile.

"You're right. Everything will get sorted in the morning." Rasa thought through his plan for tomorrow. He would go to the elders, explain what had happened and ask them to find a nice young couple who wanted a girl to adopt her. He would have to ask the elders to find them quick though. Once Karura got attached to something is was hard to get her to let go.

"You know, I wonder if our child will mind that he wasn't the first one to use his own crib?." Rasa mused as he laid next to his wife.

"I'm sure he won't mind that much." Karura answered with a chuckle. "But, I have a question for you?"

"What?"

"How do you know our child is a boy?"

With a smile and a small laugh Rasa looked at his wife and rubbing her belly he answered.

"I just know."

* * *

 _Authors Note_

First off, I do not own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or any other variation of the Naruto anime/manga/games. The only thing I own is the idea for the story.

Secondly, thank you for reading the first chapter of my story! I hope you enjoyed it and I will be posting more chapters soon.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

One week had passed since that fateful night. Karura had gotten too attached to the child they had found to let her go to another family. She had named her Suzume and told Temari and Kankuro that she was their baby sister now. Temari was more than happy to have another girl to be around while Kankuro was still a little confused about how they had a new sister but their mother had still not had the baby that was in her belly. Rasa had accepted his new daughter and was happy that his other children had accepted her as well. The elders were another matter though. They had asked where she had came from and when Rasa explained they told him to take the child back and leave it there. Rasa was confused and angered that they would tell him to do such a horrible thing. When he asked why they stated.

"It will not look good on the kazekage family to have an illegitimate child in the house."

Rasa snapped back stating that she had not been an illegitimate child, but that she had been abandoned and that it was his job as kazekage to make sure every villager stayed safe. Rasa turned on his heel, told the elders to have a nice day and left with Suzume in his arms.

After that day the elders did not talk with Rasa about his new child. They had accepted the fact that the girl was here to stay no matter how much they did not like it. They agreed that as long as she knew her place at the bottom of the kazekage family they would not do anything to her.

Karura loved watching Temari play with Suzume. She would hold her and make faces to get her to laugh when she was crying, or help Karura with feeding or changing her. Kankuro would try to make faces and get her to laugh too but, it wasn't always successful. Most of the time it would usually end up with Suzume in more tears. Karura told him that it wasn't his fault and that when his baby brother got here he would have a special bond with him just like Temari had with Suzume. He smiled and looked at his mother's belly and put his head against it.

"You better hurry up and get here little brother."

Karura laughed and told Kankuro that he wouldn't have to wait much longer. She looked up at all her children in the nursery and smiled. Thinking about all the good times they were having and all the good times they would have in the future.

But, the good times were short lived. As soon as Karura had gone into labor the medical ninja knew something was wrong. The unborn child was early and it was taking a great toll on Karura's body. By the end of the labor Gaara had been born at the price of his mother's life. Cradling her new son Karura made her promise to always protect him and named him Gaara.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

6 years had passed since the death of Karura. Suzume had grown into a brown haired and brown eyed curious child. Always getting into everything and asking how stuff worked. She was always entertaining to be around.

Rasa had done well with raising Temari, Kankuro, and Suzume and having Yashamaru raise Gaara separately. It was hard to separate Suzume and Gaara. They had always been each other's first choice of playmates. Rasa thought this was just because they were they closets in age and had the most time together since both Kankuro and Temari had already begun to go to the ninja academy to learn how to be shinobi. But, he did not know that they were drawn to each other because they both shared an immense power that, at this time neither of them knew they had.

* * *

No one had known what immense power Gaara would have. There had already been more than ten instances of him hurting or killing people. The only people he truly liked were Yashamaru and Suzume. After the third killing Rasa began to look at his son as more of a monster than a child. And it felt like Gaara only put up with Kankuro and Temari because they were his siblings.

The elders were getting antsy. It seemed as though Gaara's power was only growing and becoming more unstable. At this rate his thirst for blood would be the ruin of the whole village. Rasa was summoned talked with them about a solution.

"I will test my son tonight. If he holds his anger in than I believe that he can be controlled. If he does not….. Then he will be a threat to the village….. And will not be allowed to live."

"How will you test him?" Asked one of the elders.

"I will tell Yashamaru to lie to him. I will send him on a mission to kill Gaara. I will tell him to say that his mother never loved him and that he should hate this village and everyone in it."

"And if he doesn't stay in control?"

"Then I will use my gold sand to subdue him and we will carry out an actual

assassination in the future."

The elders were happy with this. They adjourned the meeting and waited until the dead of night.

* * *

Suzume, Kankuro and Temari awoke to a monstrous roar. It was so loud that it shook the very foundation of their home. All three of them ran to Rasa's room to find it empty. They all looked at each other in fear.

"Are we being attacked?" Suzume looked wide eyed at Temari.

"I don't know." Was Temari's only answer.

"Let's go to the top room and look out the open window." Kankuro suggested.

They all nodded their heads in agreement and ran to the top floor, unprepared for what would await them. When they arrived they gazed out at the monster they had heard earlier. There at the far side of the village was the one tailed Shukaku.

Kankuro began backing away from the window asking more to himself than the others "What is that thing?"

Suzume and Temari did not have an answer. They only continued to stare and watch Shukaku wreak havoc on the village.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Suzume and Temari had watched the gold sand surround Shukaku and the beast slowly disappear from sight. Kankuro had become sick from looking at the monster and had left the room. They continued to stare out the window until they heard the door to the house open and close. Footsteps making their way up to the top floor made the girls turn around. There stood Rasa with Gaara in his arms. Releasing Shukaku had taken all of his energy and he had collapsed. Suzume and Temari had made the connection between Gaara not being in the house and Rasa coming back with him. But, that still did not stop Suzume from asking if Gaara was going to be alright. Rasa did not answer, he only took Gaara to his room and then walked into his.

* * *

"What are you doing up here?"

Suzume looked back to see Hanabi looking at her.

"Just thinking about the past."

It had been six years since she saw Shukaku for the first time. Ever since then Gaara had become so cold. They used to be the best of friends. Even though they were not related they still felt so close to each other. Now, it was like she was just another face in the crowd. It was even worst now that him and his siblings were over in the leaf village taking the exams and carrying out their mission of destruction. It had been three weeks since they had left and she had started to worry about if everything had gone as planned. Suzume let out a deep breath and stoped playing with her light brown hair. She let it fall to the small of her back before laying down and looking at the clouds slowly roll by. Hanabi walked over and laid down beside Suzume.

"You know they should be back any day now." Hanabi said trying to cheer her friend up a little.

"It's still not soon enough." Suzume said after another deep sigh. She closed her eyes and thought about the good old days. When her and the sand siblings would run and play together. Even though there weren't many of them, they were memories that she would always have.

"Well maybe soon is sooner than you think." Suzume opened her eyes to look at Hanabi, but she had sat up and was looking off into the distance to the entrance of the village. Suzume slowly sat up to match Hanabi. Just as she did shinobi started to rush past her in the direction of the entrance. Hanabi turned around to ask if Suzume wanted to go see, but when she looked Suzume was already gone. With a small smile Hanabi stood and began leaping from rooftop to rooftop towards the entrance.

Ninja were already entering the village by the time Suzume got there. She looked around until she saw a small red dot in the sea of people. Immediately she rushed over not knowing what she was going to come upon. Her eyes went wide when she saw Gaara. He was being supported by Kankuro and Temari, his head hanging low and a large gash just below his left shoulder. Suzume rushed over to Kankuro's side.

"What happened?" Suzume asked as she took some of Gaara's weight off of Kankuro.

"We didn't stand a chance. The plan fell apart almost before it even started." He let Suzume take the rest of Gaara's weight as a medical team came over. Even when Gaara was this injured the medical team still made small movements. They constantly kept looking between the wound, Temari, and Suzume.

"He's not going to do anything in this state so will you just help him!" Suzume could not understand why they were being hesitant. They were medical ninja and someone needed help. This made all three of the sand siblings lift their heads to look wide eyed at Suzume. Temari and Kankuro looked back at the medical ninja as they proceeded to work on Gaara's injury more quickly. But Gaara's gaze never left Suzume.

'Why did she say that?' The question kept spinning around in Gaara's mind like an endless black hole. He had pushed her away, he had treated her even more coldly than Kankuro and Temari, he had said that he did not want her on his team, he made sure she would never be there if he lost control of Shukaku. He could never forgive himself if he hurt her. Gaara still remembered the day that it had all changed.

* * *

He had been six years ago. Gaara had been trying to give medicine to a girl that he had hurt, when she saw him she slammed the door in his face and told him to get away from her. He ran home crying. Suzume had been the one who found him on the top floor of the house. She just stared as he wiped away fresh tears, the pain in his chest swelling with each new one the fell from his face. Then without any worlds walked over and hugged him. Gaara just stood there in shock, he had never been so close to someone before. After a few moments Gaara grabbed Suzume and hugged her back. He closed his eyes and buried his face in her shoulder length brown hair, feeling hot new tears in his eyes. For just a moment the pain in his chest stopped. Just then Yashamaru had walked in. Suzume and Gaara let go of each other and turned to look at him. Yashamaru looked at Suzume and said that she should be getting to bed. As she left Yashamaru walked over to Gaara and asked how giving the medicine went. Gaara explained what had happened and that he always had a constant pain in his chest. Yashamaru went on to tell him that he had a broken heart and that only love could cure it.

* * *

'Love'. Gaara thought about that word while he was being carried away to the hospital by Temari and Suzume. Kankuro was behind them, still drained from the insect attack he had suffered in the failed leaf village attack. 'Love'. Is that what he had felt back then?


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Gaara looked out the window of his room. The endless waves of sand danced in the fading light of the evening. The medical ninja had said that he and Kankuro were in good enough shape to go home. Gaara knew the medical ninja wouldn't keep him. Everyone in the village was too scared of him to even look him in the eyes. A sudden knock at the door interrupted his thoughts.

"Can I come in?"

Suzume poked her head in, searching the darkening room for Gaara. She found him in the corner staring blankly out into the fading light. His teal eyes looked across the room to see who it was, she was the only one who would look him in his eyes. They lingered on her for a few seconds before returning to the window. Suzume took that as permission to enter and came in with a small tray holding clean bandages and Gaara's dinner. Suzume sat the tray on the bed beside Gaara and started to unravel the new wrapping. It had only been a day since the sand ninja had returned, but Gaara's wound was already starting to heal nicely. Gaara started to remove his top shirt and fishnet undershirt. Suzume could see his well shaped body, almost every rib and muscle was clearly defined from a combination of years of intense training and self neglect. Gaara wasn't much of an eater, he would always pick at everything and barely eat. Suzume tried to help by making his meals with more nutrients that way even if he ate a small amount it would help. But when he and his siblings started to go on long missions it was back to square one. As Suzume started to remove the old bandages Gaara began to think back to when he and his siblings were first put on a team, and how it almost didn't come to be.

* * *

"I don't want her on my team." Gaara had said it about three times now and was starting to get very annoyed with repeating himself.

"She is the top ninja of her class and will be a perfect match with you and Kankuro. Why don't you want her?" Baki did not know why Gaara was being so persistent about Suzume not being on his team, they had always been good together and it seemed like she was the person that Gaara hated the least.

Gaara sent Baki one of his now famous scowls. "I will not have her on my team."

Baki let out a huff and finally gave in. "Fine. Then I'll inform Temari that she is on this squad and work something out for Suzume."

* * *

A sting of pain brought Gaara back to the present. He instinctively pulled back away from it and looked up at Suzume with accusing eyes. Suzume looked surprised at his reaction.

"I said that this was going to sting." She said in a soft tone.

Gaara averted his gazed downward and muttered the smallest "Sorry."

Suzume was surprised. This had been the first time in nearly seven years that they had been this close. In those seven years Gaara had only become colder and had never showed any signs of regret or remorse. Suzume could only assume that something drastic had happened when they were in the leaf village. Something that had shaken Gaara straight to his core.

"It's ok Gaara." she slowly began to go back to work putting on fresh gauze before beginning a new wrap. She let her mind wander as her hands worked almost by themselves.

* * *

"The anbu?" Suzume gave Baki a questioning look. She had been meditating near the training ground when Baki arrived and broke her concentration. "I'm not going to be on a normal squad?"

"No. After consulting the elders they believe that you can best serve the village by working in the anbu."

"Is that code for they think I'll finally get killed." Suzume went back to her meditation. She closed her eyes and listened to the birds that gathered in the rocky caverns. Softly signing their individual songs to each other.

Baki had nothing to say. Everyone knew how the elders saw Suzume. She was a problem that they wished would just go away, kind of like Gaara. She had come out of nowhere and was gaining popularity due to her skills in ninjutsu and being able to use every chakra nature, a feat never before seen in any of the villages. Every obstacle they had thrown at her she had taken as a challenge and overcome. She had risen to the top of her class at the academy and was expected to become one of the best ninja the sand village has ever known.

"When do I start my training?"

Baki looked back at Suzume. Her hair gently blowing in the breeze as she concentrated on chakra control.

"We first have to see what main nature you posses." Baki walked over to where Suzume was and sat down with her.

"I thought we already figured out that I have at least partial control over all natures?" Suzume opened her eyes again to see what Baki was doing.

"You do. I don't know of any other ninja who can control all the elements with such precision as you, but there has to be one that you specialize in. Here take this between your hands." Baki handed Suzume a small leaf that she placed between her hands.

"Put a small amount of chakra flow into the leaf and we'll see what happens. If it burns then your nature is fire, if it drys up then it's ground based, if it gets cut in half is wind, and if it becomes wet then it's water."

Suzume looked at the leaf and took it between her hands. 'So this is going to decide what I excell in huh? Well, guess there's no time like the present.' She put her hands together and allowed a small amount of chakra into her palms. She felt the leaf move and stopped the chakra flow. Slowly, Suzume opened her hands and looked at the leaf.

"Nothing.." Baki looked over and was just as confused as Suzume. He handed her another leaf to try and got the same result. Baki thought about what this could mean, he had never seen or heard of this happening before. After some time of thought he came to the conclusion that Suzume must be equally skilled in all the chakra natures in order for them to cancel out each other when she tried the leaf test.

"What does this mean?" Suzume interrupted Baki's thoughts.

Turning back to Suzume Baki stated, "It means your training is about to be a lot more intense."

* * *

"What are you staring at?" Gaara snapped Suzume out of her daze. She had finished her work and blankly staring at his bare chest. His cool teal eyes watching her.

"Um…. nothing. Um…" Suzume looked everywhere except at Gaara. A faint blush was starting to creep into her cheeks as her breathing picked up slightly. "Um.. Well your dinner is here on the bed, so.. I'll be going now." With that said Suzume put the old bandages on the tray and started to leave.

"Suzume."

She stopped and slowly turned back to Gaara looking him in the eyes.

"Yes."

After a pause Gaara looked her in the eyes and said, "Thank you."

Suzume was surprised, her breath caught in her throat. It was the first time in a long time that he had said that to anyone, let alone her. She looked back at him, and with a small smile creeping up to her lips said, "You're welcome Gaara."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Slowly in the following months things went back to how they use to be. Relations with the leaf stabilized when the sand village found out Orochimaru had murdered the kazekage and had broken his side of the deal. The sand said they would give the leaf any information they had in order to try and restore the friendship between the two villages.

Suzume looked out over the village from a high building top. She was happy things were finally calming down, although she was still worried about Gaara. He had left his siblings to join the normal ranks to 'prove' himself as being more than just a jinchuriki. It troubled Suzume to think about how many people still wanted him dead. 'Why couldn't they see that people can change?' With a deep sigh she thought about Kankuro and Temari. Temari had gone into training to be a liaison between the sand and leaf, and that left Kankuro time to himself which he devoted to learning more pupett jutsus. Suzume herself had even had some downtime, with there no longer being a plan to demolish another village and many casualties in the attack the elders and Baki, who was serving as a replacement until a new Kazekage could be named, were taking it easy on deploying ninja outside of the sand village's borders. It was nice that Suzume could spend time with her friends outside the anbu. But what was strange was that Gaara had changed more than she had thought possible.

He had become less cold, and would no longer try to avoid her. Sometimes if she was having trouble sleeping she would go and look at the stars from the rooftops, sometimes running into Gaara since he doesn't sleep. Every time she tried to talk to Gaara in the past he would simply vanish in his sand, never saying a word to her. But now they would sit together and enjoy each other's presence. They would barely talk or sometimes they would not talk at all, but just being by his side was enough for Suzume. She thought back to one of those nights and how he had let down one of his walls to her.

* * *

It was another sleepless night. Suzume decided that stargazing would be the best option to help her try and go to sleep. Slipping out of the house she made her way across the village from rooftop to rooftop looking for the best spot. She looked around to suddenly see a figure on one of the rooftops, stopping she let her eyes adjust to see who it was, though she had an idea of who could be out this late at night.

She hopped over to the roof where Gaara was sitting and waited for him to notice her. It didn't take more than a few seconds of her landing for Gaara to bring his eyes down from the moon and focus of Suzume. Gaara returned his gaze back to the moon and Suzume took that as an invitation to sit with him.

"Can't sleep? I can help with that." Suzume looked at Gaara. When they were younger Suzume had already begun to use chakra control and would often help Gaara in these situations. Gaara would never sleep on his own, Shukaku would invade his mind and fill it was all sorts of nightmares, but Suzume could use her chakra control to block Shukaku from getting into his head. She would do it whenever Gaara asked her to when they were kids, but after the separation and him growing cold to her it had been years since he had slept.

"I''m fine.. But thank you." Gaara's voice was always in a whisper up here, like he was scared he was going to get caught and punished, not that anyone would dare face off against Gaara.

Suzume was still careful about what she said or did around Gaara. Even though he was changing she did not want to do anything that could hurt him and have him revert back to the old Gaara. She eased herself onto her back and looked at the stars. It was a clear night and the sky seemed like an endless ocean of shining diamonds. Star gazing was really the best medicine for a sleepless night.

Suzume woke up wrapped in sand. She was still on the rooftop and moved around only to have the sand follow what she did, it was almost like she had a blanket, which was nice because it had been a bit cold. It was still a few hours before sunrise and Suzume looked around at her surroundings.

"Gaara?" Looking over her shoulder she finally found him in the dark. He looked over at his name being called to see Suzume rubbing her eyes.

"You looked cold so I had my sand keep you warm." That was his response before turning back and blankly staring off into the distance.

"Thank you." Suzume sat up as the sand followed her movements. Looking over at Gaara she said, "Can I ask you something Gaara?"

He looked back over without saying a word. Suzume took this as permission to ask her question.

"Why did you not want me on your team?' Suzume paused to let Gaara answer. When he didn't she continued, "I thought we were friends? Did you not think I would be good enough?" Again she paused for Gaara's reply.

Gaara looked at her for a what felt like an eternity. She stared straight into his teal eyes that she was sure she could get lost in. After another minute Gaara answered her.

"I didn't want you to get hurt."

Suzume was confused at his answer. She wondered what he thought could hurt her.

"I graduated the top of my class, I can do all the chakra natures, and I am a medical ninja. What do you think could have hurt me?"

"Me." Gaara dropped his gaze to look down at the rooftops. His eyes conveying an emotion that Suzume thought might have been sadness.

"What?" Suzume didn't know what he meant, of course he would never hurt her. They had known each other their whole lives, they had been raised together, they had been each other's closest friends.

"If I ever lost control of Shukaku and he hurt you…. I could never forgive myself." Gaara continued to star out at the dark buildings.

This made Suzume even more confused. During those years Gaara had stated that he loved only himself and fought for only himself. Was he lying? Gaara looked up and saw the look of confusion of Suzume's face. He tried to gather his words and clear it her confusion.

"I tried to have the mindset of only loving and caring for only myself. But, I could not forget the only friend who was with me in my childhood. No matter how hard I tried I could not bring myself to hate you. I honestly didn't know what I thought of you. It was just easier to surround myself with people who I didn't care about as much. You were the only person who if I hurt, I wouldn't know what to do with myself."

Suzume sat there in shock.

"All these years you pushed me away because you were scared you were going to hurt me?"

"Yes"

* * *

"Hey"

Suzume blinked and looked over at Hiro. He was in plain cloths and she almost didn't recognize him. She had always seen him in his anbu gear and it was kind of weird to see him like this. He was wearing black pants with matching black sandals, a v neck plain red tank top that showed off his muscular arms. His short black spiky hair gently blow in the wind while his light brown eyes were looking straight at Suzume.

"Are you finally all healed up Hiro." Suzume asked as she looked over his covered torso. He had taken a kunai to his right side and it had almost ended the mission. He was lucky that Suzume was a trained medical ninja.

"You bet. Maybe now I can take you out to lunch sometime." He smiled and walked over to where Suzume was and sat down with her.

"You know I can't do that." Suzume smiled and looked back out across the village. "Hanabi likes you in that kind of way." She had confessed this to Suzume months ago, and she made a promise to Hanabi to not date Hiro. And that's what she would do.

Hiro let the smile slip from his face. He wasn't interested in Hanabi, she wasn't confident like Suzume and she would always be hesitant. 'Why….Why can't she just give me a chance?' was all he could think.

Hiro turned away and asked, "Anyone who's ever asked to even try and go on a date with you has been shot down. Who are you waiting for anyway? Are you just waiting for someone to come kidnap you and take you away when you're all alone or something?"

Suzume laughed at his question, "Hahaha. Maybe I am." Suzume didn't know what else to tell him. Hiro had been pursuing her for about a year now since they had been put on the same anbu team. Every chance he got he took to ask her out, but he just wasn't the one that she wanted.

"Well….. I guess I'll just have to remember that the next time I see you training by yourself then." Hiro's smile had returned and he gazed out across the village.

"Good luck." Suzume said with a small chuckle.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

A year had passed since the failed attack on the leaf. Gaara had earned the respect of most of his peers had was quickly rising through the ranks. Temari had restored the diplomacy between the sand and leaf and was helping to build even stronger bonds. And Kankuro had perfected working with two puppets simultaneously in battle. Suzume had been put back on semi-long anbu missions but still had time to spend around the village every now and then. Everything seemed to be heading in the right direction. Her and Gaara grew closer and closer over the past months and she would swear that he even smiled one time. These were by far the best days she had had in her life.

* * *

"We're leaving on a long mission tomorrow."

Gaara and Suzume were on their usual spot looking out at the star filled night. Suzume looked over at him as he continued to stare at the endless universe above them.

"What's it about?"

"It has something to do with one of the leaf shinobi, Sasuke Uchiha, being taken away. They are asking our help in order to bring him back to their village."

"At least they are starting to fully trust us again. How long do you think you'll be gone for?"

"I don't know. We don't know where they went with the Uchiha or how many enemies we are going to come across."

"Well no matter what happens just promise me something."

Gaara looked over at her. "What?"

Suzume still looking out at the stars said, "Promise me you'll be safe. And come back."

Gaara was slightly surprised, this was the first time Suzume, or anyone in that matter, had ever said something like this. He knew that she had just lost one of her friends on another mission not too long ago, but he didn't think it affected her that much. They all knew that they or their comrades could die at any moment, that was the life of a ninja. Though he still did not know what he would do if anything happened to her. He looked at her face trying to decipher what emotion she was trying to hold inside away from him. When he could not read it he simply stated, "I will. I promise."

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Gaara said, "Maybe when I get back... we can do something together other than look at the stars."

Suzume was in shock at his question. She did not dare move or look at Gaara. She was trying to control her emotions that were slowly starting to slip into her cheeks. After a long pause she answered in a small voice, "What?"

Gaara was not expecting to repeat his question. He had barely mustered up enough confidence in himself to ask her the first time. His breathing slightly quickened and he felt like he had lost his voice. After a moment to regain himself he said, "I said… um…. That when I get back, we should go and do something… like maybe lunch or dinner or a walk….or something."

His voice was as quiet as Suzume has ever heard it. She sat there in silence. Then, after a minute of thinking it over a small grin grew on her face. Turning towards Gaara and with a smile on her face she said, "I would love to."

* * *

It had been three days since Gaara and his siblings had gone to help the leaf. Suzume was planning her next mission with her team when a scout burst through the meeting room doors. Everyone turned in surprise to see who the intruder was.

"What are you doing?!" Hiro yelled as he turned around and started to stalk towards the scout. "This is very sensitive information, you can't just come barging in unannounced!"

"Sorry Sir, but we have an emergency! Akatsuki have been spotted at the village borders."

Everyone froze in their place. Akatsuki. That very name made everyone's blood run cold. The murderous gang whose intentions were still unknown were basically at their back door.

"What direction are they traveling in?" Suzume looked over at the scout and started to formulate plans of attack or defense. It would be better if they just skirted around the village. She did not know if her or her team could take out one Akatsuki, let alone multiple.

"They are headed straight this way. There's no way they'll avoid us."

"Then we have no choice. My squad and squad three will intercept them before the get to the village. Everyone else will wait for a signal. If I send up a smoke bomb then we have failed and an evacuation of the village should be carried out." Suzume looked back at the scout, "Have you told Baki of this?"

"No."

"Then go and tell him my plan."

"Yes ma'am." With that the scout was off.

"Squad three and my squad. We move now!"

With that both of the three man teams were off to intercept the Akatsuki before they could reach the village. They all adjusted their individual masks and weapons as they jumped from rooftop to rooftop.

When they got to the outskirts of the village they took shelter in the rocky outcrop. The plan was to wait until they could see how many opponents they were up against then assess them. Even with this they were at a complete disadvantage. They knew nothing about any of the Akatsuki, but Suzume was sure that they had intel about all of the anbu. As they peered our into the sand they began to see two shadows appear. 'Well at least if there's two of them it we might stand more of a chance.' Suzume collected her thoughts. She couldn't see their faces because of the hats they were wearing, nor could she see any distinguishing marks that could help reveal weak spots because of their long cloaks. As soon as they entered the rocky area the anbu jumped out and blocked the path leading to the village.

"What do you want?" Hiro spoke from behind his mask.

"We have come to take the jinchuuriki of this village. If you hand it over will be on our way." One of the men answered in a deep rough voice. Suzume could see a little of his face now, but the majority was hidden behind a cloth that covered his face. The only thing that was visible was his tan skin and teal eyes with a maroon sclera.

Suzume felt fear and relief. She knew now that they wanted Gaara, but he was safely outside of the village away from them. She also noticed that they used the word 'it' so they didn't know for sure who they were supposed to capture. She thought about her options again, she couldn't tell them that he was gone, that would only mean that they would look for him elsewhere or not believe her and try to torture anyone for information. And she couldn't tell them that they didn't know where he was because that would put too many people in the village in danger. Their only hope was to defeat the enemy here and hope that none of their friends were waiting for an ambush.

* * *

 _Author's Note_

Hello. I hope you are still enjoying the story. I know I have been really bad about updating in a semi-normal manor and it has been random, but I'm trying to write this story as often as possible. Also, I'm sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes that might be in the story. I'm trying to reread and catch them but some still might slip through. Thank you again for reading my story and I hope you are enjoying it!


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"I'm not going to repeat myself." The one with the rough voice said. "What is your answer?"

Everyone stood quiet for a minute. The wind gently wiped up sand around their feet. Suzume didn't know what to do. For the first time in her life she had no plan of action that could guarantee everyone's safety. If her or her team died here today then that was their job, but she did not know what would happen to the village or the people in it if they failed right now. 'What should I do? Will we be able to hold them long enough for the village to be evacuated? Will they go after the villagers even if they are out of the village? Should someone pretend to be Gaara and go with them?' All these questions were buzzing around Suzume's mind. Suddenly a kunai launched itself at the Akatsuki who jumped back out of the way. Suzume looked over to see who had done such a stupid thing when she saw Hiro step forward.

"You're not getting a damn thing from this village!" His hand was already reaching for the katana sword he kept on his left hip.

'You damn fool' Was all Suzume could think before the Akatsuki attacked.

The one with the teal eyes took the lead as his partner pulled off his hat and charged in after him. He had silver hair that came down to the end of his neck, pale skin and the deepest violet eyes that Suzume had ever seen.

"Kakuzu save one so I can do my ritual." The silver haired man called up to his ally.

Kakuzu grunted in response to the silver haired man's request.

"Get ready!" Suzume shouted. She had drawn a kunai and was prepared for anything the enemy could throw at her. Another one of the anbu threw a shuriken at the men. Kakuzu jumped out of the way while the silver haired man simply sidestepped it. Kakuzu then released his stitched from under his cloak reaching them out towards the sand anbu. Suzume threw her kunai only to see it bounce right off of the weird wires.

"Earth style: Earth wall" Suzume quickly morphed the ground to her will and put up a barrier between the sand ninja and Akatsuki. This was effective enough to block the stitches. "Hiro use your fire breath jutsu with my water raging waves to create a smokescreen. My squad will attack the masked one within the smoke while squad three takes on the silver haired one."

Just as Suzume had finished explaining her plan Kakuzu smashed through the earth wall.

"Now!"

Suzume and Hiro combined their jutsus to create a steam wall that entrapped Kakuzu. Squad three had run around the earth wall to fight the silver haired man who had stayed a fair distance behind. Suzume saw the shadow of Kakuzu in the mist looking around and trying to judge what direction the sand ninja were going to come from. Jumping high into the air she changed her chakra flow into a lightning bolt. 'If this doesn't kill him at least it will knock him out so we can help squad three with the other man.'

"Lightning style: Lightning bolt." Lightning shot out of Suzume's hand directly at her target.

"Did you get him?" Hiro asked as Suzume landed beside him.

"Yeah. He shouldn't be getting up anytime soon. For now let's concentrate on helping the other squad." Suzume watched the smoke clear to make sure their opponent was out when she realized that there was no body. There was only a rock that had scorch marks on it from her lightning bolt. 'What!'

"Suzume look out!" Hiro shouted as she sensed someone behind her. In a split second she was wrapped in Kakuzu's stitches.

"Hiro send the signal!" This was bad. She couldn't get free and had no way of releasing the smoke signal on her own. With any luck Baki would have reinforcements come to their location as others evacuated the village. But, before Hiro could reach into his pouch Kakuzu had him and their third team member in his stitches also.

"So, you can use at least three chakra natures… Interesting. I wonder if you can use the other two types as well." Kakuzu looked over Suzume and took off her catlike mask that she wore. She was scowling as his teal eyes looked at her. "Are you possibly the one we're looking for?" Kakuzu didn't seem to be asking the question specifically at Suzume, but more to himself. He thought about his next plan. 'Should I take her and hope shes who we're looking for? She's different and we were told that the jinchuuriki could be in the anbu.'

"Stop looking at her like that!" Kakuzu looked over to see that Hiro was also scowling at him. He was already annoyed enough in the fact that he had to go through this much trouble in deciding if this girl was who they were looking for or not. He didn't need another distraction to think about.

"You're too annoying." As he said this one of Kakuzu's stitches placed itself at Hiro's chest in front of his heart.

"What are you doing?" Suzume asked in a shaky voice.

Kakuzu's simply reply was, "I'm going to kill him."

Suzume looked over at Hiro with pure fear in her eyes. She had seen people killed in front of her before but not like this. Not when she was so powerless to help them.

"Don't." Suzume looked back at Kakuzu.

"Why?" Kakuzu looked Suzume in the eyes. His cold stare almost looking right through her.

Suzume couldn't think of anything to say. She had no good answer to why he shouldn't just go ahead and kill everyone right now. Then she thought of the only plan that could save her comrades.

"It's me." She said in a small voice looking down at the ground. "You were right. I'm the one you came for." She talked in little more than a whisper, hoping that the others would not hear and say that she was lying. Kakuzu simply looked at her not saying a word. "I'll go with you without a fight if you promise not to hurt them." Suzume looked back into Kakuzu's eyes. After a long pause he answered.

"You're going to come with us either way." And with that he plunged his stitches into both member of Suzume's anbu team. She stared in complete horror as she saw the life leave their eyes. Hot tears built themselves up but she would not let them escape. She wouldn't give this monster his last satisfaction.

"Kakuzu do we know who our target is yet?" The silver haired man walked through the hole in Suzume's earth wall to rejoin his companion. "Is that the one we're going to torture info out of?" He said this with a sadistic smile on his face. He had waited so long to do a ritual that he was almost jumping with excitement.

"No Hidan, this is who we came for."

Hidan looked her over. Her brown hair was still tied up in a high ponytail with the ends coming to the small of her back, Headband on her forehead with two strands of hair that came down to frame both sides of her face. Her anbu uniform fit her well trimmed body to a T. Her head hanging low not even bothering to look up at him. She couldn't have been more than 16 he thought. Kakuzu had her hands tied behind her back and she was slightly elevated in the air.

"Well I guess I won't be able to do my ritual." Hidan said with a bit of a pouty tone.

"No you won't." Kakuzu was already walking past him to return to the base carrying Suzume with his stitches behind him. Hidan followed behind as they made their long journey back across the desert sand.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Hanabi looked at the carnage around her. Her heart couldn't not bare the sight of Hiro so she opted to look at the squad behind the earth wall. Baki had sent out a backup squad as soon as the scout had told him what had happened, but they were too late. Everyone but Suzume was here, lifeless. The squad behind the earth wall was torn into too many pieces to recognize, unlike the two men from Suzume's squad who had a single stab wound to the chest.

"Hanabi you should go report to Baki what we found."

Hanabi turned around to see Riku holding a basic report out for her to take. She knew this was hard for Hanabi, everyone knew about her crush on Hiro and how close she had been with Suzume.

"Sure." Hanabi took the small report and began her way to Baki's office.

* * *

"And there's no sign of her?" Baki was still looking at the report, trying to decipher some secret message that he knew was not there, to find any clue about where Suzume could have been taken.

"No. None at all." Hanabi could only look at the floor with both her hands crossed in front of her. She thought about all the good times they had had together over the years. All the missions, secrets they had shared with each other, she had even helped her train when they were younger.

Baki stood up and proceed to the window. He looked out over the village to the horizon, the sun was setting and was painting the surrounding desert in the most amazing shades of yellows, oranges, and reds. 'What should I do?' The question kept bouncing around in his mind. 'The elders will say it's a lost cause to go after her.' And to an extent they were right. There was no way he could spare enough sand ninja to take on Akatsuki members and he had no idea where they even were. Baki turned back to Hanabi.

"Go back to the battle area and tell the reconnaissance squad to gather all the information they can. After that have them bring back the bodies so the families can start funeral arrangements."

"Aren't you going to assign a squad to go and search for Suzume?" Hanabi looked up at Baki with worry. 'We are going to go get her right? We can't just leave her.'

"We don't have the manpower or the time to do that. All we can do is hope that she gets away… or did not suffer any pain." Baki looked back down at the floor. He did not have time to mourn his lost pupil now. He needed to ensure the safety of the village first. If there was any sign of her in the future then he would act and try to have a squad save her, but that was a far fetched hope.

Hanabi tightly closed her eyes. Hot tears were forcing her way through despite her efforts. She tried to accept the fact that she would never see her friend again. A sudden thought crossed her mind and she looked back up at Baki with tears in her eyes.

"What about Gaara?"

Baki's thoughts ceased all at once. He hadn't even gotten to that idea yet. What were they going to do? He had become so close to her in these passing months and Baki didn't know how he would react to the news of her being kidnapped or even the possibility of her being killed. His head was spinning with possibilities. 'Would he revert back to the old Gaara? Would he charge off on his own? Would Shukaku find a way to get loose? The elders would not want Gaara or anyone else trying to plan their own mission to try and bring her back.' Baki rubbed his head on what the best plan of action would be. How could he tell Gaara that Suzume was gone without him breaking on the inside. After a while of intense thought an idea come to him. It was harsh and he didn't like it, but he thought it would be the best plan until the situation cooled down. Hanabi saw Baki open his eyes and look at her.

"I have a plan…..but you're not gonna like it."

* * *

Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari finally saw the main gate of their home village. It had been a longer mission than they anticipated and they were all ready for a good rest. As they walked through the main gates the gate keeper waved them over.

"Lord Baki would like to talk to you all in his office."

This wasn't unusual to the siblings after they had completed a mission and, with a nod, they proceeded deeper into the village to where Baki was. The sand siblings could not shake the feeling that something was wrong as they walked down the street. Everyone kept glancing over at the siblings and when they would look over the villagers would quickly turn away. Gaara couldn't shake a sinking feeling in his gut. Everyone was acting too strange. And he still hadn't seen Suzume, usually she would sit among the rooftops and wait for Gaara to return. 'Was she possibly on a mission?' he thought.

* * *

When the entered Baki's office it was dimly lit. Only the light from the late afternoon sun kept the room from being fully dark.

"You called for us." Temari looked at Baki who was standing by the window looking out over the village. When he did not answer Temari looked over and Kankuro who returned her semi-troubled look. Gaara was staring straight at Baki, it had been too long, he was sure this was about Suzume now.

"A situation has arisen in the village." Baki stated in a serious tone as he turned toward the sand siblings. "There was an attack on the village. Akatsuki were spotted on the borders heading this way and two squads were deployed. As soon as I learned about this I sent out another squad as backup, but when they arrived it was too late. When the backup squad arrived everyone was dead except for Hiro who was on the brink of death. When asked what had happened he told the squad leader that it had been a trap. He informed the backup squad about what had happened before he finally gave in to death. He said that Suzume had turned on them and fled with the Akatsuki members."

Kankuro and Temari's jaw dropped. They were left speechless. Both of them wondered how this could have happened. 'Why Suzume had turned on the village?' What could have caused this?' Was she under a jutsu?'

"That's not true."

Both Kankuro and Temari looked at Gaara. He didn't take his eyes off Baki. He wouldn't believe it, not after all those years together, not after she had done so much for the village, and not after she had made that promise with him.

"I don't believe it."

Baki looked at Gaara and walked a few steps away from the window.

"She played all of us. She only acted like she was apart of this village, but the elders were always right when they said when the time came she turned on us." Baki was stern in his words. He looked Gaara straight in his eyes as he said it. He left no sense of doubt in his voice.

Gaara turned around and stormed out of Baki's office with Kankuro and Temari calling after him. Baki watched all of them leave, hoping that this news would not cause Gaara to crack.

* * *

"Gaara wait!" Temari called after Gaara as he vanished into his sand. Kankuro came up behind her asked where he had gone. Temari answered that she did not know. Both of them hoped that he would hold his emotions together.

* * *

Gaara overlooked the village from the rooftop that he had shared with Suzume. The village was coming alive with lights due to the setting sun. His head was racing. 'All those years had just been a lie? What could have made her kill her own friends? What about our promise? Didn't that mean anything?' Something wet on his face caught his attention. When he lifted his hand and wiped it away. His first thought was rain, but as he looked up and the clear starry sky he realized that he was crying. His eyes let out more tears as his emotions crawled up from the pit he had thrown them in so many years ago. He sat down and buried his head in his hands, frantically wiping away the tears as fast as they could come out. 'Why? Why? Why?' The same question kept going threw his head and he couldn't find an answer. He gripped his chest as he felt a dull familiar pain. 'She had made it go away for so long.' He gripped his shirt tighter as the light slowly left and the world enveloped him in darkness.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

It had been four days since Suzume had been kidnapped. She was still being towed behind Kakuzu by his stitches. They had stopped only twice during their treck back to their base. Hidan had offered her food the first time they stopped, but she ignored him. She only stared at the ground in front of her, trapped in her own world.

They stopped and Suzume finally looked up. They were standing on water at the base of a large cliff. Kakuzu made a hand sign and opened a secret door to the base. Suzume stared into the darkness, unsure of what would await her. As the Akatsuki members walked down the halls their footsteps echoed off of every wall. It was dark with the only light coming from torches mounted on the walls every few meters. Suzume looked up again as they stopped in front of a door at the end of a long hallway. As they entered her eyes adjusted more to see a man sitting behind a desk. He had orange hair, pale skin, what looked like chameleon eyes, and too many piercings to count.

"Is this the jinchuuriki?" The orange haired man asked, not looking up from his papers.

"We believe so." Kakuzu answered.

The man stopped looking at his papers and looked up at Kakuzu.

"What do you mean you 'believe' so?" His tone was even more firmer than Kakuzu's had been in the sand village.

"We didn't see her transform." Kakuzu started, "but we know she can use at least three of the chakra natures and admitted to us that she is the sand village's jinchuuriki."

The man walked out from behind his desk and looked over Suzume. His face never changing from his firm scowl. Suzume looked back with all the anger she could muster. She hadn't eaten in four days and was dehydrated. Her breathing was slow and heavy and she soon returned her look to the floor, her head being too heavy for her body to hold up.

"We'll have to test her to make sure before we pull it out." The oranged haired man said. "Take her to the clearing in the forest on top of the mountain and we'll see if she is who she says she is."

* * *

Suzume was placed down in a clearing after being carried up the mountain. Her legs immediately betrayed her and gave under her weight. She didn't know what to do. 'What are they testing me on? If I can do all of the chakra natures?' Sounds of movement snapped her out of her thinking. She looked around to see Akatsuki members appearing out of the brush that surrounded the clearing. She finally came to the realization that she was going to die here. No one was going to save her, no one was going to know what happened, this was it.

Kakuzu slowly walked around her and placed himself at the other end of the clearing.

"Get up." His monotone voice got no response from Suzume and she did not move. She stayed on the ground blankly staring a few feet in front of her. Watching how the grass slowly swayed with the gentle breeze. 'Will it be quick? Will there be pain?'

"Get up!" Kakuzu yelled at her now. Suzume lifted her head to look at him, staring into his eyes she saw nothing but years of pent up rage waiting to be released on someone. Suzume looked away from him, focusing back on her spot watching the grass.

"Fine. Then I'll come to you." With that Kakuzu rushed Suzume and gave her a swift kick in the stomach. With a grunt she was knocked into a nearby tree. For a brief moment Suzume snapped out of her catatonic state. She thought about her village, her friends, her promise to Gaara,... Gaara. Her eyes flew open as she dodged an incoming punch from Kakuzu. Rolling out of the way she saw how effortlessly he punched straight through the trunk of the tree. He stood and looked over at her.

"So…. I guess you're ready now."

Suzume stood up and glared directly at Kakuzu. She couldn't die here, she still had a promise she had to keep. A new determination filled her as she readied herself for the fight of her life, if she did die, she was going to put up a hell of a fight.

Hidan looked over Kakuzu's shoulder and watched Suzume's expression change from hopeless to pure determination. He licked his lips and let a small grin come to his lips. He had always liked a women with some spirit.

* * *

 _Author's Note_

Hello everyone! Thank you again for reading my story and sorry for the short chapter. I hope you are all enjoying it. Some new things have come up in my personal life so posting is going to be a lot less frequent than what it was, but I still hope to have at least one chapter a week. Again thank you so much!


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

All of the other Akatsuki members suddenly felt the tense air that now filled the opening. Something had changed, there was a new anger that only a few of them have ever felt. Slowly they could start to see the chakra around Suzume begin to manifest itself. It glowed in a bright red and enveloped her in a cyclone of chakra. Kakuzu was slightly taken back by this new development, he had been sure that she was not a jinchuuriki a moment ago, but now he had doubt. This immense chakra pressure was that of someone with a jinchuuriki, but she did not have any chakra tails or other characteristics of a chakra beast. Kakuzu looked slightly passes Suzume to Pain to see what he thought about the situation. As he glanced two things happened. First, he saw the same confusion and slight hesitation that Kakuzu had and secondly, he saw Suzume disappear.

* * *

Everything seemed like it was moving in slow motion to Suzume. She saw the glow of the red chakra slowly surround her, but she was still focused in on Kakuzu. Her mind racing with what had happened to her. 'They stole my life. They stole me away from my home. They killed my friends. And they took me away from everything and everyone I loved.' Slowly she let her rage consume her, she let herself fade into darkness. Her eyes grew dull as the rage kept building. And when Kakuzu looked away, she moved.

* * *

The next thing Kakuzu noticed was a fist in his back propelling him forward. He barely had enough time to register the pain before he hit a tree on the other side of the field. All of the Akatsuki suddenly jumped into action. The frightened ninja Hidan and Kakuzu had brought in was no longer there, instead they were faced with something no one knew anything about. They were positive she wasn't a jinchuuriki because of the lack of chakra tails and other aspects of jinchuuriki, but she still had so much power they did not know how else to classify her. As each of them looked at her they noticed how void of consciousness she was. Her eyes had no shine, they only looked at each of them to asses which one she would go after first. They had no sense of emotion, the only thought they could make out was that she had transformed herself into a killer.

"We're gonna need to work together to get her back under control. Deidara, Sasori you take her left side try to get close and use explosives or poison to slow her down. Itachi and Kisame will take the right and try to create an opening. Zetsu watch her back and look for an opening. Kakuzu you try and use your stitches to sneak into a blind spot and trap her. Koan I want you to stay back and monitor the situation if anyone gets seriously hurt pull them out. We're already short handed as it is." Everyone nodded as Pain spoke his last sentence. Then, they began their attack.

Suzume looked at each of the Akatsuki members coming toward from all directions. No emotion was present as she simply lifted her hand and moved it from the right side of her body to the left. The Akatsuki were stunned and blown back by the force of her simple wind attack. She skimmed over them until she again found her target still getting up from the tree he had been knocked into. Suzume charged at her prey but was stopped by a small white bird that exploded as it came within a few inches of her face. The blow stunned Suzume, but the chakra shield had prevented any damage. The explosion caused her to take a jump back to recover and let the air clear around her. The other members took this opportunity to attack once again.

More white explosive devices were coming at her in the forms of fast crawling spiders on her right while she also had three members attacking her left. Kakuzu had also joined the fight by using his stitches to attack her from the front. Suzume pulled out a kunai and began switching from Kakuzu's stitches to the members on her left while also trying to avoid a another direct attack from the exploding animals. Even though they did not make her take damage they created a cloud of smoke that could be used to hide an attack. Pian took notice of this and telepathically instructed Deidara. 'I need you to create a big enough explosion to open up a blind spot behind her. As soon as you have it use it and I'll take her out from behind.' It only took Deidara a few second to create his masterpiece, it was a large snake that he thought could sneak up on Suzume while she was busy fighting. As she turned to the left to stop an attack from Kisame he released it and it began to slithers its way around to her blind spot. As soon as it was within range he detonated it.

A huge cloud of smoke encased Suzume and the nearest Akatsuki members. Both Pain and Kakuzu took this opportunity, Pain raced around to her blind spot while Kakuzu entrapped her with his stitches. Suzume struggled to get loose from the tight cords but Kakuzu had made sure to wrap them the tightest around the arms and fingers so she could not even make hand signs. As Pain came around to Suzume's back he noticed a shadow had entered into the smoke cloud. In another second he saw the image of Hidan who had also grabbed Suzume and was attempting to place some sort of necklace around her throat. Suzume also noticed this and threw her head back to try and headbutt Hidan. He easily avoided it and secured the necklace around her. Suddenly, all of the chakra surrounding Suzume was sucked into the heart shaped charm on the front of the strange piece of jewelry. For a moment Suzume regained her consciousness and saw the Akatsuki members around her. As she fought to stay awake and try to remember what had happened her legs gave way and she fell back into something. Looking up she only saw the same deep purple eyes from when she was taken. Then, she faded into the darkness.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Hidan look at the unconscious ninja in his arms wondering what he must have been thinking to use this technique. He had picked her up and carried her all the way back to the base without saying anything to the other members. They simply stared at him as he turned his back and left with her. After a minute they all looked at each other and followed Hidan down the mountain to the base.

* * *

'What the hell am I going to do now? It's not like I can take it back now…..How am I going to explain this?' Hidan was pacing his room deep in thought about what would happen to him next. He paused for a second to look at Suzume laying on his bed, still knocked out from all of her chakra being absorbed in such a short time. Hidan scowled and started to pace again. A knock woke him from his deep thoughts. Kakuzu opened the door without waiting for a reply. "Pain wants to take to you."

"Yeah I figured that." Hidan was still glancing all over the room. He would look to Suzume then to the walls then to Kakuzu then to the floor then again back to Suzume. With a deep sigh he moved passed Kakuzu and headed toward Pain's office with Kakuzu behind him. As he opened the door he saw the rest of the Akatsuki members gathered around Pain.

"So I guess you all want to know what's going on…."

"Yes what did you do to her." Pain responded in a flat tone. Hidan could tell that everyone was on the edge of their seats to hear what he had done to spot Suzume. WIth a deep breath Hidan began.

"It's a technique my old clan used to use. Since we were Jashinists it made finding a mate somewhat of a hard thing, everyone thought we were just going to kill them. But our religion requires us to at least have one child per family to raise in the way of Jasin. So, we created these necklaces. They work by choosing an individual that you want to be with whether that meant for life or if you just wanted to pass on your genes with a strong bloodline. It works by sapping up all of the targets chakra causing them to become unconscious, this way they could be taken back to either our village or clan residence, then as the target slowly restores their own chakra they are secretly infused with the kidnappers chakra as well. This causes the target to slowly fall in love with their kidnapper."

"So what's going to happen to the girl." Pain's tone did not changed. Some of the other members were looking at their partners or at Hidan in a new light.

"Every member only gets one. And the way of Jashin states that I have to be with her and produce at least one child that will grow up to be another follower."

"And there's no way to break this?"

"Not really. The only way I can undo this is to either have a child with her or I get killed."

"Well we can't have a child in the base, let alone that the girl is little more than a child herself. And the last time I checked you were immortal." Pain was now starting to get annoyed that Hidan had acted in such a stupid way that.

"Well I don't know what to tell you. Those are the stipulations." Hidan was now starting to get louder as he spoke and also developed a more annoyed and sarcastic tone.

"Well what happens if we kill her?"

"Right now she's basically as immortal as I am." Hidan was getting more and more frustrated with this conversation. He had explained his religion enough times to everyone in the base for them to have this basic understanding of it, but of course no one would ever listen to him.

"You really had to go and do it this time didn't you Hidan." Kakuzu spoke up.

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean!"

"You always have to act without thinking! Look at the mess you caused, shes gonna be another mouth to take care of and is probably not going to join easily if even at all!"

"You should be thanking me! You were getting your ass handed to you and I saved you! So what if she puts up a fight, I'll make sure that she joins us and that will be the end of it!" Hidan was so full of rage he didn't know what to do. Everyone should be thanking him not patronizing him!

"Then we'll hold you to that." Pain looked from Hidan to Kakuzu. "She will be joining your team as soon as she is under control. Hidan how long should that take?"

"It depends. It seemed like she had pretty deep connections to her village. It could be hard for my chakra to break her down all the way, we're at least looking at a couple of months."

"Well if it's gonna take that long anyway why don't you just knock her up and get your one child and it'll be over and done with that much sooner." Deidara moved from the back of the group to the front to see Hidan move clearly.

"I may be a lot of things Deidara. I might be a fucking over religious prick, I might be a loud mouthed bastard, and hell, I might even be a god-damned murderous fucking psychopath. But I am not a fucking pedophile rapist!" Hidan slowly raised his voice from a calm tone to screaming at the top of his lunges as he stated this. This was the last straw for him. Without saying another word he stormed out of the room, slammed the door behind him enough to break the hinges, and stalked back to his room.

When he go back he found Suzume in the same position he had left her. Her chest gently riding with each breath she took. Hidan let out a deep sigh. He had never planned to use that stupid necklace when he was still with his clan. He had never seen himself with children and even some of the people in his clan thought he was too much of a psychopath to have a wife. He sighed again and started his pacing back up, wondering what his next move should be. With the amount of chakra that was absorbed it was going to take a while for his chakra to even start to take effect and even then he didn't know if he had infused enough of his chakra into the necklace for it to even work.

He would have to think of a way to break her down so that his chances were better. He paced for over an hour before an idea finally came to him. He would take away the most important thing he could think of from her. With the idea still fresh in his mind he went off to go find Sasori.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Suzume awoke in a dark room only lit by a lone candle in the corner of the room. She slowly opened her eyes to try and let them adjust to the low light. Her whole body felt heavy as she tried to move. She started by trying to move her fingers only to find that they had been tied together. Lifting her head she also saw that her whole body was covered in a mix a ropes and chains. The chains were used on larger parts of her body like her arms and legs while the ropes were mainly around her lower legs and fingers. She looked around the room until she spotted a dark figure against one of the walls near the candle. Her heart skipped a beat and began to beat at a fast pace as the dark figure came closer to her and into the light of the candle. The first thing Suzume recognized were those eyes, those deep purple eyes that could hypnotize anyone if they looked at them long enough.

Hidan walked over to the edge of the bed where Suzume was tied down. Once again he started at the girl from her head down to her toes. She looked like she hadn't taken any damage during the fight they had had two days ago which was good, she was going to need her stamina to make it back to her village. Without saying a word Hidan reached out and began to undo the ropes around her legs and hands. Suzume laid there in silence as he finished with the ropes and began to unlock all of the chains. He flung them to the other side of the bed when he was done and proceeded to walk away from her and open a door.

"Are you coming?"

Suzme laid there stunned. 'Coming? Where are we going? How long have I been tied up? What happened?' Suzume thought back, the last thing she remembered was getting her butt kicked by the one Akatsuki member.

"Hey are you just gonna lay there and stare at me or do you wanna leave?" Hidan shook Suzume out of her thoughts. She has indeed been staring at the Hidan and quickly averted her gaze. As she raised herself from the bed she noticed that her whole body was sore. It felt as though she had been put through the fight of her life and she also noticed that her chakra was extremely low. She put her feet on the floor and began to get up and follow the silver haired man in front of her. They twisted their way through the endless corridors of the hideout, neither of them saying a word. Suzume walked slightly behind Hidan off to the right. As they made their way through the maze she would lift her gaze to watch him, his short silver hair flow with every step, the way he held himself with such confidence, unlike her. She put her gaze back down on the floor and continued to walk behind him. She was confused with her thoughts. She wanted to be like him, not a bloodthirsty murder, but to have that amount of confidence. She knew that he had the type of aura that when he walked into a room he commanded attention. She had the opposite. All she wanted to do was disappear when she entered a room. The elders had made sure that almost everyone in the village avoided her since she graduated from the academy. She was the outsider that no one knew about, she didn't have a past, and she didn't have real parents. She thought back to her childhood. The elders had made sure that Rasa and Karura had told her she was adopted since she could understand the concept, that she should be grateful to the Sand that they had taken her in. She thought back all those years and realized that even though she had had a happy life she never had a place that she really felt like she belonged.

She almost ran into Hidan when he suddenly stopped. She stopped and looked up at the stone wall in front of her. She shifted her gaze to look up at Hidan who was also staring at the wall. With a few hand signs he placed his hand on the wall and it began to open. The first thing Suzume noticed was how bright it was. She had to cover her eyes to let them adjust to the normal light of day.

"You can go." Hidan's voice made her open her eyes and look straight at him. His purple orbs met her brown ones as she stared at him in disbelief.

"What?"

"You can go."

Suzume thougth that this had to be some sort of trap. 'Why would they just let me go? They know that I know where their hideout is. Do they think I won't tell? Are they going to destroy it after they leave?' So many questions were running through Suzume's mind. A light breeze caught her attention. It felt like an eternity since she had smelled fresh air. Slowly she took tentative steps away from Hidan, outside the hideout cave and into the light. She looked back once over her shoulder and saw Hidan still there at the entrance of the cave, then, she ran.

Hidan watched her take one last look at him before she started to run. It wasn't long before she was out of sight. He noticed that they had been followed through the halls and turned to see Sasori.

"Don't let her get too far away now."

"It doesn't matter now. I can track her as long as she has that necklace."

"Do you think she will actually join us?"

"If this plan goes as I want it to she should. Where else would she go?" I highly doubt she'll like the idea, but i bet she'll be too broken to refuse."

"You have a lot of confidence in this plan of yours Hidan."

" Well if your information you gave me is correct then it should all go according to plan."

With that Hidan jumped away and began to follow Suzume. Sasori watched him go then closed the hideout door. He scoffed as he turned around to walk back to his room. "My information is always right."

* * *

Suzume didn't take long breaks on her way back to the Sand. She stopped just enough to sleep a few hours or have a short meal then continued on her way. Within three days she was in the desert passing familiar landmarks. "Only a little further." She told herself as she passed the last one before it was a straight shot to the village. She was so happy to be on her way home that she didn't notice the hawk racing past her overhead in the same direction.

* * *

Suzume saw the village before her as she stood upon the top of a large plateau. As she was about to jump off and start running again she noticed small group of dark figures at the entrance making their way towards her. As they got closer and her eyes focused more she was shocked at what she saw. A full team of elite Anbu were heading in her direction, and she did not think it was just a coincidence.


	14. Chapter 14

Suzume watched as the group of Anbu approached. As they neared she looked at the masks they wore. She felt on edge as she recognized who they were. The highest Anbu force that the Sand had, a group of skilled killers who would do anything for the village or, more exact, for the elders. Suzume jumped back from the edge of the plateau as the group climbed up the side. They jumped over the edge and stared her down behind their masks. Suzume thought carefully about her next move, she knew that one wrong move would mean her death but she still couldn't understand why they seemed so hostile towards her. It's not like she had done something wrong, she had been kidnapped for heaven's sake.

"Why are you here?" Suzume looked at the group of ninja before her, pondering what their answer would be. After a few seconds the leader of the squad came forward and answered.

"A threat to the village was detected. We were sent to eliminate it."

'Threat? I'm not a threat.' Suzume was puzzled at his response. "What do you mean? I'm no threat to the village."

The group of ninja began to laugh at her words.

"YOU not a threat." the leader continued. "You, the one who turned her back on her village for the Akatsuki. You, the one who killed your fellow sand ninja. You, who betrayed the late Kazekage and his wife who took you in. How can you say you're not a threat!"

Suzume stood there shocked. She slowly started to shake her head.

"No…. I never…. I was kidnapped! I was stolen from my village! I would never do any of that! The Akatsuki were the ones who killed my team, they took me because they thought I was the jinchuuriki. I was protecting the village!."

The leader scoffed at her words.

"Sorry. We won't be falling for any of your tricks this time." And with that, they attacked.

Suzume was on the defensive. She had counted six opponents in all. Way too many for her to defend herself from especially with her chakra being so low. She didn't have much time to come up with a plan as the group split into two teams and came at her from both the right and the left.

* * *

"Lord Baki!" Baki lifted his gaze to the scout who had just burst through his door.

"What is it?" His tone was nonchalant. He saw that is was koichi, a relatively new member of the scouting squad who seems to think everything is an emergency. Baki thought of a recent incident when a hawk came back a day late and koichi thought it had been attacked by enemy ninja.

"It's Suzume. She's been spotted on the outskirts of the village."

Baki immediately put down his paperwork and in a dangerous tone asked,

"Am I the first one you have told about this?"

Shakingly koichi answered,

"No… I reported it to the elders first. They told the elite Anbu team to go and 'handle' it. They said that word in a really weird way so I don't actually know what they meant by that."

Baki cursed under his breath at how stupid this boy was. He had told everyone in secret that he should be the first one to hear news of Suzume if it ever came up, but he guessed the word had not gotten to the new recruits yet. He thought about his next move.

"Who else knows about this?"

"No one sir. Only the elders, the Anbu squad, you and I."

Baki thought again about his options. 'At least it's only the few of us.' He didn't know what he would do if Gaara found out. He had never faltered on the idea that she was not a traitor. He sighed again as he gave into the only possible solution.

"Thank you for telling me this. You're excused koichi."

"Yes sir."

As koichi closed the door and left Baki looked back towards the window. He knew that the Anbu squad would be looking to kill Suzume. As he looked out past the walls of the village he sent up a silent prayer that someone or something would intervene so she could have a chance at escaping.

* * *

There were too many for Suzume to handle. She had already sustained several small cuts throughout her body and was starting to bleed pretty badly. It was an endless rotation of trying to block attacks on one side while still dodging attacks on the other. After several more shallow kunai and sword wounds the Anbu team jumped back away from her into their formation. Suzume was breathing heavily from the attack. Her knees where shaking from exhaustion and her vision was becoming hazy from the amount of blood that she was losing.

"Why don't you just give up now. We promise you won't feel a thing when it's all over."

The leader was holding up his sword. Suzume assumed that meant he was going to decapitate her. That was what the elders wanted wasn't it, her head on a silver platter. She was so frustrated. 'Why? Why did this have to happen to me?' All Suzume wanted to do was to go back to her home. To be with her friends. To hold up her end of her promise to Gaara.

A slight movement from the Anbu leader caught Suzume's attention from her thoughts. He had stepped closer to her with his drawn sword. Suzume raised back up her guard and prepared for another round of battle. The Anbu leader sprung into action towards Suzume but, before he could reach her a figure appeared in front of him.

Through Suzume's blurry vision she could see familiar characteristics. The long black cloak with red clouds, the giant red scythe, and the short silver hair.

The group of ninja knew who he was instantly. The leader stepped back into their formation and started to formulate a new plan in his mind. He didn't need the Akatsuki member, just Suzume.

"So you called for backup huh. Pretty pathetic that you couldn't face the consequences of your actions all by yourself. Alright everyone listen up, all of you focus on attacking the new Akatsuki member and create an opening for me to take out Suzume. Once that's done our mission is over and we'll retreat." 'Hopefully the new guy won't try to follow us.'

"HA! Like hell you will. You're not gonna get passed me." Hidan laughed as stated this. 'Like these non believers could even lay a finger on me.' "Hey how are you holding up?"

He looked back at Suzume. She was in pretty bad shape and he noted that he should have intervened earlier.

"Why are you here?" Suzume's voice was cold, ignoring the question she had been asked.

Hidan pondered a response. He couldn't tell her his plan or why he had been stalking her, at least not yet.

"I came to save your ass. So I think a thank you is in order." Hidan turned back towards the group of ninja who were moments away from launching their attack.

"Like I would ever thank you."

Suzume words were just above whispers. She had lost too much blood and was starting to lose consciousness. Hidan let a small smirk come to his lips. Even in this situation she still had that bit of spunk to her. He was going to do everything in his power to make sure his plan became reality.

Just as he focused his mind back on the task at hand the group of ninja attacked. Hidan didn't have much trouble keeping them at bay with his scythe. It was perfect for keeping enemies at a distance. The only thing that was bothering him was keeping track of all of them. He wasn't use to having more than three opponents to worry about. After a few rotations of attack and defense he noticed that he had lost one. He frantically looked around to try and find him in between the bombardment of oncoming attacks, then he heard the earth seperate behind him. He turned his head to see that he was further away from Suzume than he had thought, the sand ninja had been baiting him to slowly step forward with some of his movements creating a better opening. He saw the leader of the Anbu squad rising from the hole in the earth. His sword aiming for Suzume's chest and her cloudy eyes trying to make a last ditch effort to block it. His eyes widened as he saw the short sword pushed into Suzume's chest and her mouth open in a silent scream.

"Get away from her!"

Hidan swung his scythe just as the squad leader jumped away back to his team. He jumped back to Suzume as she started to fall and caught her. He looked at the gaping wound in the center of her chest that was pouring out blood at an alarming rate. He looked back to the group of Anbu, but was met with the sight of nothing. They had retreated thinking that their mission had been accomplished.

"Shouldn't we go back and get the body."

"No we don't need to take that risk. We'll just tell the elders that something came up, but that we got the job done."

Hidan watched as the group of ninja ran across the sand back to their village.

"Those damn cowards."

He cursed more under his breath as he placed his scythe on his back and began to carry Suzume away. He would need to find shelter until her wounds healed enough for her to move. He looked down Suzume in his arms and thought about his rash choices that had brought him to this point in his life.

After a little while of walking he saw the edge of the forest come into view. With the sun getting ready to set he decided that he would find the best natural shelter he could and rest. It didn't take him long to find a hollowed out tree trunk. It was just big enough for Hidan to set Suzume inside in a fetal position so she could sleep, he would stay outside and keep watch till she woke up. He already knew that she would not be happy, he thought back to his first major wound after gaining immortality. The pain had been overwhelming and he was sure that when she woke up she would wish for death to take her. He started a fire and soon found himself staring at Suzume in the dim light of the fire. He found himself staring at her a lot lately.


	15. Chapter 15

Suzume awoke with sharp pains all over her body. The worst pain was coming from the center of her chest. She groaned as she slowly opened her eyes to see herself surrounded in a pool of her own blood. She couldn't move much of her body but was able to lift her head to view her surroundings. She was shocked when she saw the bases of trees from the hole in the trunk that she was currently in. The last thing she remembered was Hidan stepping in to her battle, a shadow coming up out of the ground, a sharp pain, then it all fading to black. She was sure that she was going to die but, this did not seem like any heaven she's heard of.

"You're finally awake huh?"

Suzume was startled at the question. She didn't know that she was not alone. She tried to lift her head more since the owner of that voice was out of her limited field of vision. She barely lifted her head high enough to see Hidan's feet as they stepped closer to her before the pain forced her to set her head back down again.

Hidan couched under the entrance to the hollowed out tree. He noticed Suzume was still bleeding from her chest wound. Her other wounds weren't too bad, they had stopped bleeding on their own and the healing process had already begun. Gently, he lifted Suzume up in his arms and brought her out from under the tree trunk. He looked her over again as he laid the lower half of her body on the ground while supporting her upper half in one of his arms. Using his free hand he reached behind him and grabbed a jar of ointment out of his ninja pouch that he had picked up in a nearby town and opened it.

Suzume watched as he dipped his fingers into the mysterious pink colored substance and began to rub it on the shallow wounds she had all over her body. As he applied the substance she felt a small burning sensation start to happen wherever he put it. It was slightly worse than a sunburn at first, but then began to grow more intense.

Hidan watched as she gritted her teeth through the pain. This wasn't the kindest treatment but it would get the job done in the quickest way. After a few short minutes he was almost done with the shallow wounds and was preparing to treat the hole in her chest. Suzume picked up on his intentions and panicked. She could barely handle all the pain from the numerous shallow cuts now, it felt like her entire body was covered in flames. She saw Hidan reach his whole hand into the jar this time and pull out a large glob of the pink ointment.

"No."

Her voice was little more than a whisper that Hidan ignored. He tightened his grip on her with his left hand and, in one clean motion brought his right hand down on her open chest wound.

Suzume had never experienced so much pain. She would have given anything for it to stop. She tried to claw at Hidan's arm to try and remove his hand pressing down on the center of her chest to no avail. She was in too weak of a state to do anything other than lie there and scream her lungs out from the pain.

Hidan held his hand there for only a minute, though he knew it felt like an eternity for Suzume, before lifting it and wiping it against the grass that surrounded them. He watched her eyes as they slowly closed again, blacking out from the overwhelming amount of pain. He saw the tears rolling down her face and the anger and hatred in her eyes before she finally gave back into the darkness

Hidan gently laid Suzume back under the tree trunk. As he slipped his hands away one of them brushed up against her hair. It was as smooth and soft as silk. He let himself roll the ends of it between his fingers before dropping it and thinking about his childhood.

* * *

Suzume awoke to a throbbing pain in her chest. She took in a deep breath and lifted herself up onto her knees. The pain was dull but would come in waves. She looked around at her surroundings again. She wasn't surprised when she saw the same tree trunk as last time. Looking down at her body she widened her eyes in shock as the shallow wounds that once covered her were gone. Her eyes kept darting from her hands to her arms and then down her legs making sure her eyes were not just playing tricks on her. After looking herself over again she turned and looked out the hole in the base of the tree trunk. Tentatively, she poked her head out and looked around. There was no one to be found, the only things that greeted her were the sounds of birds and other animals high up in the tree line. Stepping out she flinched as the next wave of pain hit her chest, her hand instinctively coming up to grab the area.

"So you finally decided to wake up."

Suzume froze. All of her sensed were instantly put on high alert as she slowly turned around to face the voice. Her eyes narrowed as pure hatred spread through her body. She braced herself as she stared into the cold dark eyes of a demon mask. The Anbu had returned.


	16. Chapter 16

"What are you doing here? I won't go back so just leave me alone."

Suzume turned to faced the group of sand ninja.

"Sorry, but the elders decided that they weren't satisfied with the 'possibility' of you being dead. They wanted the actual body as proof."

Suzume thought that was funny considering the leader didn't sound sorry about this at all. She let a small smirk show on her lips as she prepared for battle.

The sand ninja jumped as soon as the leader raised his hand. They used the same formation as last time with the group splitting into two teams and attacking from both sides. Suzume could only go on the defensive, she had to buy herself time. Another wave of pain came into her chest making her drop to one knee. The sand ninja on her right took this opportunity to kick her onto her back and pin her throat under his foot. Suzume struggled as the tried to kick and claw her way out from under him. She cursed herself her still being too weak to do anything. A shadow to her left caught her attention as she saw the leader lift his sword above his head, both hands on the handle to stab it down towards her. Then, in one swift motion it found its way back into the same spot on Suzume's chest as before. The leader felt a moment of pride before he noticed something was off. Then in the next instant, she vanished.

"She did always have the most convincing shadow clones. Track her down."

* * *

Suzume was panting as she ran in the opposite direction. 'What did they take her for? An idiot? Sure, she didn't get the training they did, but Baki was sure to train her in sensory skills. Sure she had all five chakra natures, but that doesn't help if you don't even know where your enemies are. How did they think she had made it this long with all the S rank missions she had been assigned?'' She needed to hide. It didn't matter if she found help or not. They wouldn't care who saw, they would just say that she was a rouge and that would be the end of it. She wasn't making good progress as she ran through the forest. Her heavy breathing and slightly fast pace were making the pain in her chest worst. The waves had stopped and it was a constant pain now. It wasn't long before she felt something creeping up on her from behind. Her shadow clone didn't give her as much time as she had hopped. She ducked just in time to avoid a kunai that had been thrown at her. She turned around to face the pack of sand ninja staring down at her from the overhead tree limbs.

"Did you think that would work? The only thing that little stunt got you was a few more minutes to live."

The leader looked down at Suzume as he said this. There was a hint of anger in his tone, he didn't like the fact that he had to chase her down twice now.

Suzume was still breathing heavily. Grasping the wound on her chest from the previous battle she had had with them. Her mind was racing for a plan. There had to be some way to escape, but she could think of none. As she looked at the sand ninja her anger and sadness mixed into a new emotion. 'How could my own village do this to me? Sure. I wasn't the most popular person, but I did everything they asked me to do. Every mission was a success, I never even took any of the credit… Why?'

Just as she finished her thought the sand ninja attacked. She was powerless, she couldn't fight anymore. She would accept her fate. She would die here and not burden the village anymore. As she closed her eyes and waited for the finishing blow, it never came. Her eyes shot open when she heard the sound of metal on metal and saw that between her and the lead Anbu member was Hidan. Her mouth dropped open as he turned back to look at her.

"I leave for five fucking minutes and this shit happens!"

Suddenly, a sand ninja appeared on the left and threw a kunai towards Suzume. Hidan noticed that Suzume was still in too much shock from seeing him that she didn't notice the projectile coming at her. He pushed the lead Anbu away and reached his hand back to do the same to Suzume. She landed on her butt after the push and looked up to see a kunai half buried in Hidan's left forearm. The image sent all kinds of questions swimming in her mind.

'Why? Why is he helping me? Why is a member of the Akatsuki trying to save me from my own village? Why is he protecting me? Why couldn't the elders just leave me alone?' Tears started to form in her eyes she thought about everything she had been through, all the judgements, the anger, the lies. Then, it hit her. A thought that made everything come into perfect sense. She had never betrayed the village, it was the village that had betrayed her.

Hidan watched as the look in her eyes changed again. That same angry spark was back that he had seen last time as she pulled a kunai from her ninja pouch. It got him even more excited for the upcoming battle. A crazed smile played on his face as he turned back to face the group of sand ninja. As Suzume walked up to stand beside him, he couldn't help but notice how right this felt to him. He glanced sideways to look at her and burn this moment into his memory before lifting his left arm and pulling the kunai from earlier out.

* * *

Suzume looked down at the two bodies before her. One was still coated in electricity and the other had severe burns all over her body. The battle had been a blur to her. All she could remember was Hidan splitting them up, her making defensive moves with earth style, then finishing one with a fire jutsu and the other with a lightning attack. She was panting heavily again and was pretty sure her chest wound had been torn open again from where Hidan healed it. She also had more cuts around her arms from defending. The sound of metal on metal got her attention and she turned around to see Hidan fighting the leader of the now dead squad. Corpses were spread around him and the leader who's mask had been knocked off. He had light brown hair with matching eyes, a small scar was on his right cheek from a previous mission, and the look of pure determination in his eyes. Suzume did not know why she made mental notes of this, her whole body felt numb. She was truly a rough now, she had no home, no friends, it was just her. As she looked around the new clearing they had created she noticed the traces of earth and wind styles. She also noticed the bodies of the once proud Anbu, they had deep slashes all across their bodies, not much different than the ones her former team had had.

The leader looked over at Suzume and anger flared in his eyes as he saw his comrades dead at her feet. This was supposed to have been a simple mission for them, not some act of suicide. This action proved to be fatal as Hidan took this moment to punch him into a tree. He fell with his back against it looking up at Hidan. His breathing was shallow and he was out of chakra. He knew that he was going to die as Hidan stepped closer towards him. He gave Suzume one last glare. She met his eyes with her own anger.

"You won't get away. Everyday you'll be hunted like the animal you are. You're going to be the trophy on someone's wall. One day the Sand will kill you. And when that day comes no one will remember your na-"

Suzume watched as Hidan plunged his spear into the leader's chest right through his heart. She watched as all emotion drained from his face, and she watched the light leave his eyes.

Hidan withdrew his spear and snapped it away from the body, removing the blood from the tip in one clean motion. He sent up a quiet prayer to Jashin apologizing for not doing a ritual. He wanted to end this battle as quickly as possible with Suzume in her current state. He looked over at her and found that she was staring back at him. The two anbu dead at her feet. He looked her over for injuries and couldn't tell if her chest wound was open again or not. She was still in her old anbu uniform. He couldn't even tell if all of the blood was hers now.

They stayed staring at each other for only a minute, but for both of them it felt like a lifetime. Hidan was the first one to break the silence.

"I guess we have to get you some new clothes huh?"

"I guess so."

Hidan beckoned her to follow him and they headed toward a nearby town. When they reached the edge of the forest Hidan stopped and looked back at Suzume.

"You stay here. I'll go in and see what I can find."

* * *

It was getting late when Hidan finally came back from the town. He found her with her knees up to her chest leaning against the base of a tree. She looked over at him when she heard footsteps and stood to meet him. He gave her one of the bags he was holding. Looking inside she saw clean new clothes, she was eager to be rid of her old bloodstained uniform. Hidan watched her as she stepped away behind some bushes and started undoing her grey vest before stopping and turning back at him.

"Um, aren't you gonna turn around."

Hidan snapped out of his daze and quickly turned in the opposite direction. He hoped she didn't catch the small amount of blush on his cheeks.

Suzume smiled and quickly ditched her old clothes for the new ones. She was thankful that her chest wound had not opened back up so her new clothes wouldn't get blood on them. As she examined her wound it seemed like it had been cauterized by whatever Hidan had put on it. She wasn't sure if it would leave a scar or not yet. When she was done she looked at her new outfit. A form fitting dark purple halter top with holes for her arms to go through but no back and black pants. She liked the simplicity of it and the fact that it was a light material but still covered enough to keep her warm on cool nights. As she attached her ninja pouch and came out from behind the bushes Hidan turned back around. He smiled as he complimented himself at how good of a job he did picking out clothes.

Suzume saw Hidan smile at her and averted her gaze she wasn't use to so much attention in one day. As he looked at her she noticed that he was staring at her left hand. She brought her hand up to show him the last piece of the Sand that she had, her headband. Hidan gave her a serious look before reaching around and pulling out a kunai and held out his hand to her. They both looked at it, knowing what this meant. Suzume took the kunai in her hand and placed the tip at the end of the metal part of her headband. She paused remembering everything that she was about to leave behind; her friends, her comrades, her teachers. She thought of the people most closest to her; Baki, Hanabi, Kankuro, Temari, Gaara. Her mind stopped when she thought of him. All those years together, all the nights gazing up at the stars, her promise to him. All of that was about to go away with one stroke of her hand. She paused for one more moment, accepting that things would never go back to how they were before, then she dragged the kunai across her headband. If the word was going to see her as traitor and a member of the Akatsuki, then that's what she was going to give them.


	17. Chapter 17

Hidan watched as Suzume put her headband into her ninja pouch. She seemed to be deep in thought when he presented her with another bag from the town. She looked up at him with a question in her eyes but took the bag without asking it.

As she looked inside she saw a variety of food items and brands. She looked back up at Hidan with surprise.

"What's this?"

Hidan looked at her like she had grown another head.

"It's food. Duh. You haven't eaten in like a week."

Suzume let a small smile come to her face. Of course she knew it was food. She was starving and picked out a small fruit and bit into it. It was one of the best things that she had tasted in awhile. When she finished it she dug around in the bag for another one and was delighted when she found a second one.

Hidan gave a small sigh as he watched her eat. Those had been the only things he had gotten specifically for himself.

Suzume looked up at Hidan as she ate the second piece of fruit.

"Do you want some?"

As she held the bag out to Hidan he simply shook his head and let out a small chuckle to himself. 'It's almost like she's adding insult to injury.'

As Suzume finished the second piece of fruit her hand was already digging into the bag for another one. Slightly sad when she didn't find a third piece she settled on a pack of takoyaki. As she began to open the packaging she looked up at Hidan again.

"So… What now?"

Hidan pondered the question for a minute. Trying to find the right way to start the conversation.

"I guess you'll be coming back with me."

"Oh I will."

Her answer was as sarcastic as Hidan had ever heard. 'Shit. Guess that wasn't the right way.'

"I mean you don't have anywhere else to go. It would just be easier."

Suzume broke eye contact with Hidan. She knew he was right. She didn't have anywhere else, no other village was going to take her in and she was sure the Sand would send more ninja after her. After finishing the takoyaki and a bottle of water she looked back up at him.

"I guess I am going with you."

Suzume put the packaging of the takoyaki back into the bag and look back one last time into the forest. She made a vow that this was the last time she would look back at her village and it's people.. She was a rough now and it was time to start this chapter of her life. She turned back and looked at Hidan waiting for his instructions. When he saw that she was ready he turned and began walking in between the forest and the direction of the town. Suzume turned and followed him.

* * *

"We'll stop and make camp here."

Suzume looked up at the clearing he had lead her to. They had been walking for only a few hours but the light was already starting to fade. Hidan gathered the wood and Suzume lit the fire with one of her jutsu. They sat at opposite ends of the camp not saying a word to each other. Suzume looked in the food bag and pulled out some more fruit before passing it to Hidan.

Hidan looked inside the bag and decided he didn't want anything and put it at his side. Watching Suzume reminded him of the third bag he had gotten in town and handed it to her.

"Here."

Suzume looked up from her food and reached out to grab the bag.

"What's this?"

It was heavier than the food bag. As she peered inside she saw the small pot of pink medicine that Hidan had given her.

"You should use that on your chest. It will make it heal faster."

Suzume looked back down at the jar before her eyes shot back at Hidan. Hidan raised an eyebrow as she stared at him.

"Your arm. You got hurt too."

Hidan raised his left arm to see the deep gash the kunai had left. It had already stopped bleeding and was starting to heal on its own. He raised it up to show Suzume.

"This? It's just a scratch. Iv had worst."

Suzume wasn't impressed. He had defended her and she had gotten him hurt. She got up and walked to where Hidan was sitting.

"Let me see it."

Hidan was weary of her still. Even though his plan had worked she still couldn't be trusted yet.

"If you're planning on using that pink stuff then the answer is no. You need that more than I do."

Suzume didn't even think of using it, though it would have been nice to get a little revenge for what he had done.

"I'm not. Just give it here."

Hidan paused before letting her take his arm in her hands. He soon felt a tingling sensation as a blue green chakra surrounded his wound. His eyes widened slightly as he figured out she was healing him. He watched her work until the gash in his arm was little more than a memory to him. It had been completely healed by her.

"Thank you."

Suzume looked up from Hidan's arm to his face. There was no emotion. Just those endless purple eyes staring at her. Reaching right into her sole,threatening her sanity. She had to look away in order not to get lost in them.

"I guess… I'm the one who should be thanking you."

Hidan let a smile come to his lips

" I mean I only saved you twice."

Suzume looked back at Hidan and returned a small smile of her own.

"Yeah. Only twice."

* * *

Hidan looked over at Suzume on the other side of the fire. She was curled up in the fetal position soundly sleeping. He saw the gleam of the silver heart on the necklace he had placed on her. He had never wanted to use that stupid thing. It had always seemed like a cheap trick to him. He thought back to his parents. His father had been a proud man and his mother had been the kindest person Hidan had ever known. He had always wanted to find someone like his mother to be with. Someone who would be by his side for all eternity. He still remembered the story of how they met.

* * *

Hidan had been a small child when he asked his father how he met his mother. His father had smiled at him.

"Hidan, do you know about all of the necklaces that the women wear?"

"Yes, they control their thoughts and make them love whoever puts it on them."

"Thants right. But your mother is the exception to that."

"What do you mean father?"

"Our clan is feared far and wide for what we believe and how we prove our faith. When I was young I was given a necklace and told to take a bride. Because we are the leaders of our clan I had to make a very difficult choice of who I wanted to be with. But, I did not want to use our clans necklace."

Hidan was shocked by this.

"But didn't you want someone to love you?"

His father bursted out with laughter at his son's question.

"Of course I did. But, I wanted someone to fall in love with me for who I was. Not because of some necklace. When your mother was younger she was very inquizitive about our people. I would always catch her just outside our domain trying to see what we do. We would often talk and I would tell her about the way of Jashin. Everyone told me to just give her the necklace already instead of pursuing her, but I didn't listen to them. I knew your mother was someone special, someone worth putting all this time and effort into. After a while of talking I finally got her to move into our clan. I showed her what we do and taught her about our faith. After a few months I gave your mother a choice, she could either stay here with me or she could leave."

Hidan's young mind couldn't quite understand what his father was saying. He had always seen women coming into the village and staying there. No one was ever given the choice to leave.

His father saw the confusion in his son's face and continued.

"She decided that she wanted to stay with me for who I was, not because of some necklace that forced her to. Soon after we made arrangements to be married. I gave her her necklace as a wedding gift and as she put it on the chakra it absorbed became a beautiful heart shaped amethyst jewel that you see her wear. That can only be caused by her loving me as much as I love her, that's why you will never see another women have that on their neck. It will only be the simple silver heart shaped plate."

Hidan looked at his father with some understanding in his mind. As he got older he understood more and more of what his father's words ment. And when it was time for him to receive his necklace he decided that he would follow in his father's footsteps and wait untill someone loved him for who he was.

* * *

A moan from Suzume pulled HIdan out of his daze. As he looked over at her he noticed that she was only shifting her position to get comfortable again. He let out a deep sigh and watched her settle back down into her new position. Deciding that it was also time for him to go to sleep he laid down and let one last thought come to him. 'Could I really get her to love me for me?' Then he let the darkness take him into a world of dreams.


	18. Chapter 18

Suzume awoke as the first rays of sun hit her face. She propped herself up on her elbow and took in her surroundings. The fire had long died out and there was a slight mist in the clearing. She looked over to see Hidan still sound asleep on the other side of the fire. As she stared at him she couldn't help but feel conflicted. 'This was the man who killed my friends, who kidnapped me with his partner, he was the reason I turned on my own people…..But, he was also the one who saved me...twice, protected me against the Akatsuki, gave me food and clothing, and he's the only person I have now.' With a deep sigh she sat up and grabbed one of the bags from yesterday. She opened it and took a small package of dango dumplings and began to eat them.

Hidan rubbed his eyes as he heard the sound of the bag opening. He looked to where the sound was coming from and saw Suzume with a small tray of food. He sat up and looked at the sky, it was still early. He reached for the bag of food and grabbed the first thing that touched his hand. He pulled out some fruit that he didn't know the name of and began eating it. When he was done he discarded the core and looked over at Suzume who was finishing up her food as well. When she was done she looked over at Hidan and waited for him to say something. She guessed that they were going back to the Akatsuki hideout.

"Come on. We need to get moving."

Without a word Suzume stood and began walking behind Hidan. They said nothing to each other on their journey. Both were conflicted about their own feelings towards one another. Suzume thought about her new status as a rough, traveling with an Akatsuki member who she was now content being around. Her head was telling her to hate him for what he had done, him and his partner had been the reason this whole fiasco had started in the first place. But, something else was telling her that she needed to be with him now, that this was were she was supposed to be. Hidan was in deep thought on how his life had come to this. He had sworn that he wouldn't use that necklace to gain someone's love, yet here he was with Suzume following him. He didn't know why he had even used the necklace to calm her down anyway. Was it because of that look in her eyes back then. He thought about the last battle they had had, how, when Suzume stood beside him he felt invincible. He thought about that spark that had come into her eyes and the fire that she had lit inside of herself.

They stayed in their own thoughts for most of the trip back to the hideout. As they passed through towns and small gatherings Suzume ate whatever Hidan would get. She assumed you can't be picky when your a rough.

After a few days of walking they finally came to the same hideout as before. Hidan stopped in front of the large stone wall and turned back to look at Suzume.

"Do you trust me?"

Suzume looked at Hidan with disbelief. 'Trust him?! Was he insane! Of course I don't trust him. I don't even know him…..But, what have I got to lose…. I don't have anyone else.'

Hidan watched as her face turned from shock, to anger, to sadness. She needed to trust him if he was going to keep her safe. He felt a strong need to keep her around him so he could make sure nothing happened to her. He didn't quite understand why, he knew the necklace only worked on Suzume, so why was he feeling such a strong emotion towards her. His thoughts were stopped short by Suzume looking back Hidan.

"Yes."

With her answer he opened the door to the base and they proceeded inside. They went down too many hallways for Suzume to count before Hidan stopped in front of a door. As he opened it Suzume recognized the room as the same one she had woken up in the last time she had been in the base.

"Stay in here until I come back for you."

She turned to look at Hidan with a question in her eyes but decided against it. She didn't want to be alone in this strange place. Her chakra had not fully returned yet and she was worried what would happen if she got into another fight with the other members. Hidan picked up on her anxiety.

"Don't worry. No one will bother you as long as you stay in here."

This was his room after all. All the other members knew how much he hated his things being touched and didn't dare come into his room. Plus no one knew she was here, if she kept quited she would go unnoticed. He watched her walk into the room and turn to look once more at him as he closed the door. Then he proceeded down the hall to Pain's office.

Suzume sat on the bed and looked around the dimly lit room. Everything was pretty plain except for a few trinkets on the dresser that had some weird symbol on them. She picked up a box with the strange symbol and looked at it, a triangle inside of a circle, she wondered what it meant. Putting the box down she headed back towards the bed and laid down. She thought of what she could do until Hidan returned.

* * *

"Come in."

As Hidan entered Pain looked up from his work. His eyes are void of any emotion as he looked at Hidan standing across from him.

"How was it?"

"Everything went according to plan."

Hidan's voice was dry. He evaded Pain's eyes as he spoke.

"So you have her under your control now I assume."

"We'll… not exactly."

"What do you mean, 'not exactly'? That was the agreement, you control her and I don't have her dismembered."

She knew valuable information about the Akatsuki now. Pain had to make sure that Hidan had the reins pulled tied to insure their future plans were not interrupted.

Pain's tone was dangerous. Hidan knew he had to tread carefully. He thought back to how Pain had threatened him before about Suzume.

* * *

It was just as Hidan was making his way to Sasori's room. He knew the puppet had a mole inside the sand. He needed any information he could get his hands on to fix the situation.

He learned that her village had abandoned her. She was even considered to be a part of the Akatsuki. Hidan couldn't stop smiling at his luck. 'This is gonna be almost too easy' he thought as walked down the hallway. Suddenly, Pain turned the corner and beckoned him closer. Hidan lost his smile as he sensed the anger radiating off of Pain.

In a harsh whisper Pain began to chew Hidan out. "I don't know what the hell you were thinking putting that thing around her neck. We had the situation under control and you had to go and act irrational!"

"Listen I have a plan alright and there's no way in hell you had her under control. You should be thanking me! I don't need you or anyone else telling me how to fix anything!" Hidan was still flared up due to Deidara's previous statements that day. As Hidan began to walk around Pain back to where Suzume was he felt a hand grab his arm. He turned around to meet Pain's face only a few inches from his own.

"No Hidan, you listen to me. That girl has seen too much, she knows to much, and we can't trust her! You made this problem Hidan and you're going to fix it. I don't know what possessed you to use that weird necklace, wedding ring, ritual thing! But, I promise you, if you don't get her under tight control I'll have her ripped apart right in front of you."

Pain let go of Hidan and walked down the hallway. Hidan stood there in slight shock. He had never seen Pain lose his cool like that before. He felt a weird sensation come over him as he turned back to go to Suzume. It was as if he felt the need to make sure his plan had no chance of failing, it was almost as if he needed to protect her.

* * *

Hidan collected his thoughts once more as he answered Pain.

"She'll do as I say. She gave me no problems coming back from her village when she heard that she was a rough. Even the village didn't have a problem with her leaving, they were happy to see her go."

'A little lie never hurt anyone right' Hidan thought.

Pain was silent. He was sure Hidan was lying, but that wasn't his problem right now. He was still gathering information on the locations of all the jinchuuriki.

"Very well. But if she does anything again us. I will have her ripped apart."

"Understood." 'Over my dead body.'

"And you can take her out of your room. Everyone except Kakuzu has gone."

Hidan's eye widened and his jaw dropped in shock. 'How? How did he know? Damn it.'

"Take her and go. Everyone is getting a two year break while I figure out where the rest of the jinchuuriki are. Take this time to actually get her under control."

Hidan had to physically bite his tongue not to chew Pain out. If it were anyone else he would have made his famous death threats, but this was different. He couldn't afford to lose his head here. He had barely gotten Suzume back without having tracker nin on their asses. He could feel the blood starting to pool in his mouth as his anger increased. He knew he couldn't stay in Pain's office any longer and turned to take his leave.

Pain watched as Hidan became more angered by the second. It was strange for his to hold his tongue. Hidan was a proud man who didn't take anything from anybody, so, why was he holding it in for this girl. As Hidan turned to leave his curiosity grew further. 'Not even a death threat?' His eyes narrowed as Hidan closed the door behind him. 'Something is off.'

'Kakuzu. Hidan has returned with Suzume. You will be leaving soon.'

Kakuzu waited until Pain's telepathic message was over before returning to count his last bounty. A moment later after he had finished he picked up his bag. He had been ready for nearly two days now, he was just waiting for Hidan's return. He stepped out of his room and proceeded down the maze of hallways to Hidan's room.

* * *

"Listen, you're gonna have to do what I say."

Suzume looked at Hidan like he was crazier than usual.

"Umm what?"

"Listen. I don't have time to explain. You just have to trust me."

Suzume watched as Hidan frantically ran around the room gathering random objects and throwing them into a small bag. Her interest peaked when he opened the small box she had been looking at earlier to reveal a necklace with the same strange circle and triangle symbol.

Hidan put his necklace on and cursed Kakuzu again. He had dragged him out of his bed without letting him get his talisman, how the hell did he think he was going to be able to do a ritual without it! Not that is was impossible, but it wasn't the same to him.

Just as Suzume was about to ask about the strange object the door opened. She turned to see Kakuzu standing in the hallway glaring at her. A cold chill ran down Suzume's spine, she did not want to be anywhere near him, especially when he was looking at her like that.

Hidan picked up on the sudden mood change and pack up the rest of his things as quickly as he could, he didn't need anymore drama today. They stayed silent as Hidan looked at Kakuzu with a bag over his shoulder. Kakuzu looked from Suzume to Hidan and back before turning to walk out into the hallway. Hidan looked over at Suzume as she watched Kakuzu leave. When he was out of sight she stood and looked at Hidan. He took that as a que to be a spacer between her and Kakuzu, he left the room with her close behind him, Suzume only pausing to shut the door behind her.

The group stood at the entrance of the base staring out at the endless world in front of them. Kakuzu looked over at Hidan. In the passed weeks Hidan had pestered Kakuzu endlessly about wanting to pick where they went on their next break. He kept saying he had unfinished business about some religious garbage that he didn't care about. But, even Kakuzu had his limits on how much he could stand. He told Hidan that if it shut him up he could choose as long as it was close to a bounty spot.

"So, where did you want to go?"

Suzume looked up at Hidan also waiting for his answer.

Hidan gazed out at the scene in front of him and thought about what was ahead. It was finally time for him to close the book on his past once and for all. As he continued to stare out into the distance one word left his mouth.

"Home."


	19. Chapter 19

Neither Kakuzu or Suzume knew what to think about Hidan's words. He had not said anything else after he mentioned they were heading to his home, he had simply started off on their new mission leaving Kakuzu and Suzume to follow him. They watched him from behind as the group jumped from one tree branch to another.

* * *

Hidan made sure they took their time getting to his destination which pissed Kakuzu off to no end. They frequently had arguments about what Hidan was doing 'taking them in circles' as Kakuzu would say. Hidan would always answer that he wanted to make sure that 'everything was ready' when they arrived. What that meant he would not tell.

After the first few days of travel Hidan had talked to Kakuzu about training Suzume before they reached their destination. He also instructed Kakuzu that he would be buying all the supplies for the mission. Kakuzu was not happy about his last decision mainly because Hidan was loose with money. When he had brought his point up Hidan had countered "You said I could pick the destination this time. Therefore, this is my mission and we're gonna do it my way!" Kakuzu had given in without a fight after that. He was too concerned with not needing headache medicine for Hidan's constant complaining if he didn't get his way than letting him spend too much money on 'supplies'.

* * *

The trio finally stopped after half a day of travel. They landed in a small clearing that resembled a sharp oval shape. Suzume was breathing heavier than usual. She was use to long missions that required stamina but she thought these two were overdoing a bit. Hidan turned towards Suzume and Kakuzu.

"I'm gonna go head into that town we passed on the way to go get some stuff. Kakuzu I think it's time you start her training."

As Hidan left the two almost instantly after finishing his sentence. Suzume looked over at Kakuzu. He was standing on the other side of a small clearing similar to the one they had fought at near the Akatsuki base. Suzume wondered if the outcome would be the same as last time.

Kakuzu looked over at the young ninja meeting her gaze. Slowly he walked over to her watching her expression change from realization to slight fear, hesitation for thought process, then to determination. 'Well at least she can mentally prepare herself for a confrontation'.

Suzume watched Kakuzu stride over to her closing in the distance until he was only a few feet from her.

"Match my punch."

Suzume blinked with confusion.

"What?"

"Match my punch."

Kakuzu was annoyed that he had to repeat himself and even more annoyed when Suzume still looked like he had spoken another language to her. He took a deep breath and tried again.

"I'm going to throw a punch, you will also throw a punch, when our fists meet try to match my strength."

"Oh. okay."

Suzume and Kakuzu both moved into position. Then, after a pause they both threw their right arms at each other meeting in the middle. Kakuzu only used his full strength for a second after their fists connected, it was all he needed.

Suzume felt hot tears come to her eyes at she felt pain rip through her right arm. She wasn't sure if the shock of the hit had momentarily made the pain or if the blow had broken a bone in her arm. She pulled her arm back to her chest looking over it to see any abnormalities. Kakuzu looked down at Suzume while dropping his arm to his side. 'She's gonna need a lot of work.'

* * *

Hidan came back with three bags from the town. He had aired on the side of caution on how much he would spend, it was already bad enough that Kakuzu was mad about the mission. His eyes looked around the clearing and found Suzume sitting against a nearby tree with her arm in a sling. Her eyes looked over to meet his as she heard him approach.

"What happened?"

Suzume looked away from Hidan. She had come to a sobering realization that she was not as strong as she had thought she was. These two were on another level that she couldn't even see.

"She broke her arm when I tested her."

Kakuzu came out from behind the trees with some wild game that he had caught. He looked from Hidan down to Suzume.

"How long do you think it will take to heal?"

Suzume looked up at Kakuzu and thought about the answer. She usually liked bones to heal on their own, but she could do some medical ninjutsu to speed up the process. In all she was probably looking at five days.

"It'll probably be about two days."

Suzume's eyes widened in shock as she looked over at Hidan. 'Two days! Was he stupid! These are bones we're talking about!'

"How do you figure that?"

Kakuzu was just as surprised as Suzume, but his face remained stoic behind his headdress.

Hidan simply pointed down to Suzume. Kakuzu followed his finger until his eyes reached the necklace around her neck. Kakuzu assumed that the necklace gave her healing powers as well as everything else Hidan had talked about. He simply nodded and walked away to go clean the game he had caught.

Hidan let his eyes gaze down at Suzume who continued to look up at him. He knew that she was not strong enough to be on this mission. But, he didn't know just how weak she was either. He knew some it was his fault for trapping the majority of her chakra inside the necklace but, she was still going to need a lot of work before he could take her to his home town. With a deep breath he turned and followed Kakuzu to make their dinner.

* * *

Suzume remained under the same tree, she watched the two men on the other side of the clearing. She heard mumbled tones in between bites of food but, Suzume could not hear them. She pulled up her legs and wrapped her good arm around them and laying her head to the side looking out into the dark forest to her right.

'It was all a lie'

She had come to the cruel realization that she was nothing compared to these men. She had felt that her chakra was not all there. Originally she had chalked it up to being on the run and not getting a chance to recover, but she knew now that something was wrong. When she was fighting the anbu team with Hidan she had barely had enough chakra to do a few jutsus. Suzume thought over everything that had happened to her and came up with one conclusion. The necklace she was wearing had been whats seperating her from the rest of her chakra. Suzume felt a new wave of anger wash over her. 'This was HIS fault! If he hadn't had interfered with my battle with Kakuzu I may have escaped or at least been killed. I wouldn't be here with a broken arm licking my wounds. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't be a rouge, I would be back with my village, I would be with Gaara.' Suzume stopped at her last thought. She had promised herself not to think about her old life. She had closed the book, she was on a new path. Then why was she being drawn back to it? She felt hot tears falling down her face. She was so conflicted about what she wanted. It was true that these two had been the reason she was taken, but did that excuse the fact that her village had turned their back on her? No one even tried to come save her. Didn't anyone care? Suzume thought over all these questions in her head and came to a cold conclusion. No one was coming for her, no one cared enough, not even Gaara. He could have come if he wanted to, no one was going to stop him if he tried. 'Did he not care?' Suzume had seen how some of the villagers had looked at Gaara. They weren't scared of him anymore, even some of the kids would beg him to lift them up with his sand. Even some of the girls in the village had taken notice of him. 'Had he moved on?' Suzume's mind stopped. Her left hand clutched her shirt. A dull pain found its way into her chest as she pulled her legs closer. Her head sank down as she tried to pull herself into a ball, the tears still flowing down her face. 'This is my fault….. If I had been stronger this wouldn't have happened.'

* * *

Hidan looked over to where Suzume was. 'Still sitting under that damn tree.' He knew she could smell the food and that she was probably starving. Huffing he grabbed a piece of meat on a stick from the fire and headed over to where Suzume was. Kakuzu watched him walk away wondering what this small ninja really meant to him.

Suzume heard the footsteps approach but did not bother to lift her head.

"Hey."

Hidan was squatting in front of Suzume. He could only see the top of her head bowed behind her legs. When she didn't respond he tried again.

"Hey…. I have food"

Hidan lifted the piece of meat up. He was certain she was hungry but still did not respond to him. 'Okay. Time for plan B.'

"Come on. You still can't be mad that Kakuzu beat you. I mean the bastard's old as dirt, trust me, he can take just about anyone out."

Hidan smiled at the end of his joke hoping that Suzume would feel better about her broken arm. But to his dismay she still remained in the same position.

Someone ignoring Hidan would typically frustrate him to no end. He would often curse whoever it was and walk away from them not caring about their feelings. But, this was different, he still felt that pull on his heart. A need to make her feel better. He changed his position so that he was sitting perpendicular to Suzume with his legs outstretched. He thought for a moment looking up at the stars before turning his head to the left to look back at Suzume.

"This isn't about what happened with Kakuzu is it?"

Hidan watched Suzume remain in the same unmoving position as before. He was about to give up and when his eye caught her left arm. He moved slightly and saw that it was wrapped inside of her legs clutching her chest. Hidan's head began to spin as memories flooded his mind.

* * *

Fire. Screaming. Blood stains covering the floor and walls of the temple. Hidan hiding behind a secret room listening to it all. Looking through a hole in the wall to see his mother getting dragged out by a mob. Him clutching his chest and trying to keep from screaming.

* * *

Hidan closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. He knew he had to calm his mind. After several minutes he opened his eyes again to find that he had instinctively grabbed his amulet in the center of his chest. He looked down at it then brought it up to his lips, sending a quiet prayer before looking back over at Suzume. He was surprised when he found her looking at him.

"What made you finally come out of your shell?"

"Your aura changed."

Hidan looked at her face. He could tell that she had been crying, her eyes were still red and a bit puffy. Hidan knew now that she was missing a someone rather than a something. He felt a small pain in his chest but couldn't decipher if it was from his flashback or a jealous ache from a potential rival. Hidan saw Suzume's eyes look back towards the ground, she was about to go back inside of her shell.

"Who was it?"

Suzume's eye shot back to Hidan. Slight confusion showed on her face as Hidan tried again.

"Who did you lose?"

Suzume looked down as she thought about her answer. ' I can't tell him about Gaara. What would I say? I miss the person that you and your partner were looking for when you killed my squad and kidnapped me.' Suzume let out a breath and looked back at Hidan.

"A close friend."

Hidan was slightly relieved when Suzume said the word 'friend'. But he could not be sure that she wasn't lying to him.

"What about you?"

Hidan's eyes averted to the ground. He hadn't spoken about that day to anyone. It was still too fresh in his mind. He barely got out two words without having another flashback.

"My mother."

Suzume watched Hidan close his eyes again. He was hurting just like she was. She had never felt so far apart from someone and yet so close. She let her legs drop some to get a better look at Hidan. He had taken several deep breaths before turning to look back at her.

After calming his mind for the second time Hidan finally remembered what he had brought with him.

"Did you hear me when I said I brought you some food?"

Hidan looked down at the piece of meat and handed it to Suzume.

"It's probably cold not though."

Suzume reached out her good hand and took the meat from Hidan. He was right. It was slightly cold, but to an empty stomach anything is good no matter what the temperature. Suzume finished it in only a minute, she was still hungry and instinctively looked over towards the fire.

"If you want some more then you can have it. Kakuzu and I have already had our fill."

Hidan stood up and closed the distance between him and Suzume. Bending down he held his hand out for the young ninja to take. After a few moments of hesitation Suzume finally reached up and grabbed Hidan's hand with her good one. Hidan gently pulled Suzume up to her feet, pausing when she was fully standing in front of him. He stood there, staring at her. Looking into her light brown eyes. Eyes that he wanted to look only at him.

Suzume didn't know what was happening. She had been looking at Hidan's eyes this whole time but, now that they were this close it was as if they had changed. She kept searching for the difference in them, slowly getting lost in their beauty. She noticed that they were getting closer and closer but couldn't tell if it was her getting more and more lost in them or if Hidan was closing the gap between them. She soon got her answer as she felt Hidan's hand leave hers. Her hand brushing against his forearm as his he reached up under her chin. Slowly, tilting her head up. His eyes beginning to close causing hers to do the same. Suzume felt a brush against her nose before feeling soft lips came down to meet hers. Her breathing hitched as she tightened her hold on Hidan's forearm. She was spinning with all different kinds of emotions and thoughts that were running through her head. Just as she was starting to clear her mind Hidan's lips left hers. She opened her eyes just enough to see Hidan's face. Their noses only centimeters apart. Suzume let out the breath she had been holding and blinked a few times to try and wrap her head around what had just happened.

Hidan looked down at Suzume. He did not know why he had kissed her. Something in his mind had just told him that it was the right time to do it. He knew that this was also one step closer to her becoming his, and he becoming hers. He let his hand slip back down to her hand. He turned back towards fire and began to lead her. Suzume followed looking from the back of Hidan's head down to his hand that was still holding hers. She couldn't shake the feeling that this was meant to be.

When they reached the fire Hidan handed Suzume a few more meat sticks for her to eat. She bit into the first one before noticing that they were a ninja short.

"Where did Kakuzu go?"

Hidan looked over into the woods across from where they were sitting.

"Probably in there somewhere. He doesn't like warm places. He has to sleep where it's colder."

Suzume looked out into the dark woods for a moment before returning to her dinner.

After finishing the last piece of meat Suzume looked over at Hidan who was busy keeping the fire alive. She studied him for a moment before looking back down at the sharp stick in her hand with small scraps of meat still on it. 'Why did he kiss me?' Was the only thing her brain could think of.

Hidan was pondering the same thing as he struggled to keep his mind on the fire. 'Damn it. Why did I do that? I was gonna wait at least wait until we had finished the mission… if we finish the mission.' Hidan didn't even know if they were gonna be able to clear his goal. 'Was that why?' He stopped what he was doing with the fire and pondered the question again. 'Did I kiss her because I thought I wouldn't get another chance?' Hidan raised his head and looked over at Suzume.

Suzume felt the look of eyes on her and turned her head to look at Hidan. She opened her mouth to ask him why he had kissed her then closed it deciding against it. She looked back down at the small fire. After a minute of still feeling his eyes on her she took a deep breath and looked back at Hidan. She opened her mouth once more and tried to ask the same question but, yet again found herself lost for words. She was so lost in what had happened. She finally gave up and returned her gaze back to the fire. She felt Hidan's eye leave her as he also returned to what he was doing.

Hidan felt a sense of relief and guilt. He didn't want to explain why he had done what he did. But he also didn't want her to go back into her shell over it. He kept poking at the fire thinking of different ways to start a new conversation when Suzume asked him a question.

"Why do you wear that?"

Hidan looked up at Suzume with confusion. 'Why do I wear what?'

Suzume saw his confusion and clarified her question.

"Why do you wear that pendant?"

Suzume lifted her finger up pointing at the middle of Hidan's chest. He looked down and grabbed his amulet, turning it in the light.

"It's my religion."

Suzume paused for a second thinking over the answer that Hidan had given her.

"What does it mean?"

Hidan was shocked at her question. Everytime he had tried to explain his religion to someone they had scuffed at him or told him to shove it. She was the first person to ever genuinely ask about it.

Hidan let a small smile come to his lips as he began telling Suzume about his religion and beliefs. As he continued Suzume pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them, earlierly listening to every detail.

After a few hours of Hidan preaching what he believed in Suzume felt herself beginning to tire. Hidan noticed her eyes becoming heavy and quickly wrapped up his last story. Still Suzume kept staring at him expecting him to continue on into another epic about his religion.

"We should get some sleep now."

"But I wanna hear more about Jashinism."

Hidan could hear the tiredness in her voice. Just as she finished her sentence Suzume let out a yawn that brought a smile to Hidan's lips. 'She's cute when she tries to be tough.' He watched her eyes close as she repositioned her head on her knees. With a huff Hidan got up and walked over to one of the bags and grabbed two rectangular tarps. Walking back to Suzume he laid one directly behind her.

"Come on. You can sleep on this."

Suzume opened her eyes and looked behind her at the tarp. She was rubbing her eyes to get a good look at what Hidan had laid down but couldn't figure it out.

"What is it?"

"A tarp. There's nothing worse than waking up on cold wet grass."

Hidan watched as Suzume scooted herself onto the tarp and laid on her back. Hidan bet that she was asleep the second her head hit the ground. As he walked to the side of Suzume he laid his tarp down. The tarps were big enough that he could easily roll over and not worry about going onto the grass. He laid his right next to Suzume's and laid down on his side facing her. He did not know if ninja from her home village were still hunting her, but if they were he would not be far away this time. He would be right there to protect her. Hidan closed his eyes and let the darkness take him from reality.

* * *

Hidan woke up to the rustling of the leaves around their campsite. He looked around to make sure it was just the wind. When he was confident there was no one else in the area he looked over at Suzume. Past her he could see that the fire had died out long ago taking the heat with it. Focusing back on Suzume he noticed small bumps along her skin and an uneasy look on her face. Hidan let his eyes linger on her sleeping form for a second more before sitting up and undoing the buttons on his cloak. Sliding it off around his body he scooted over to wear Suzume was a draped his cloak around her. Almost instantly a look of relief came to her face as she felt the warm cloth wrap around her. Hidan smiled and laid back down resting his head on his arm. Letting Suzume be the last thing he sees before giving back into the darkness of sleep.

Suzume awoke with the first rays of sunlight hitting her face. She turned her head to the left to try and escape their grasp. She brought her left hand up to rub her eyes when she noticed some sort of cloth on her. As she opened her eyes she saw the black and red cloak draped around her. She lifted her eyes to take in the rest of her surroundings when she came across Hidan's sleeping figure. Her mind stopped at what she saw before her. Hidan was turned towards her with one arm tucked behind his head and the other loosely draped over his stomach. Every muscle was clearly defined from his broad shoulders down to his last abb. Suzume took in every small movement he made from the way his chest contracted and relaxed when he breathed to the small movements of his fingers and face. She had never seen someone so perfect. She let her eyes wander over his body once more from his silver hair gently falling into his face down to his chest, glancing over his well toned arms, down his stomach going over each well etched out abb until she came to the hem of his pants. She could see the tops of his hip bones and the V like muscle that lead below his pant line. Suzume felt a red hot blush come to her cheeks as she stared at the man before her.

"See something you like?"

Suzume's eyes shot up to Hidan's face. He now propped himself up onto his elbow and ran his left hand through his hair to slick it back. Suzume had to fight herself to let her eyes run over his toned body now that he was showing it off. She kept staring at his smirking face. She knew she had been caught staring at his half naked form but was not sure if she could talk her way out of it.

Hidan saw her shocked look and decided to play with her some more.

"Well?"

He watched her face get even redder as she looked down and away from him. Just as he was about to make another comment he saw Kakuzu coming out of the woods.

"Well look who decided to come back."

"Shut up Hidan. I'm not in the mood for you this early in the morning."

Hidan scoffed under his breath and whispered just loud enough for Suzume to hear.

"You may not be but I know someone who is."

Hidan got up without another word and began to roll his tarp. Suzume decided to make herself busy packing up as well to ease her mind off of Hidan.

* * *

After Suzume had handed back Hidan's cloak and Kakuzu made sure they didn't leave anything too expensive behind they began to make their move again. As they started off Kakuzu realized why Hidan why Hidan was taking them in circles instead of just camping out in a certain area to train. He was building Suzume's stamina up to a proper level again since the necklace had taken so much out of her. He looked at his partner who was in front and thought for once that Hidan may not be as stupid as he had always thought.


	20. Chapter 20

Three months had passed since that night between Suzume and Hidan. They had continued to talk about Hidan's religion every night since then. Suzume would always come up with new questions or ask Hidan to further explain what something meant. She would watch his eyes light up with excitement every night when they talked. She imagined that even some of the stars were jealous of how bright they were.

* * *

The group had continued their routine of running for half the day then, Kakuzu was in charge of training Suzume. Hidan would often sit and watch her progress if he wasn't running to the nearest town for supplies. She was learning quicker than either of them had anticipated. They had learned that she had a strong foundation for each of the basic ninja arts but lacked in depth training and extensive practice. She was not bad by any means but in order to bring her to her true potential Kakuzu trained her relentlessly. All of them saw the conversion she had made in such a short time. Her body was beginning to be sculpted and toned, every muscle was becoming clearly defined by the training. Her chakra reserve was more than three times what it was after Hidan had placed the necklace on her so she no longer had trouble unleashing jutsus while training.

Hidan hadn't been this happy in a long time. As he sat in the shade of a tree and watched Suzume train with Kakuzu he thought about all the time they had spent together. All the late nights talking about religion, the way her eyes lit up as talked about it, the sparing they sometimes had so Kakuzu could see what needed to be worked on next, the kiss they had shared. Hidan stopped himself from reliving that moment. He looked away from the sparing pair and let his eyes fall on the grass at his feet. He inhaled a deep breath as he a sense of guilt came over him. 'Does she even think of me in that kind of way? Will she ever? What should I do?'

"Hidan!"

Kakuzu shouting snapped Hidan out of his guilt trip and back into the present. His head snapped up to look at Kakuzu who was a few feet in front of him looking down with an annoyed scowl.

"What?"

Hidan raised his voice. He was annoyed at being yelled at by his partner.

"I said I need you to spare with Suzume. I need to see how she defends her left side at a low upward angle and I can't get a good read when I do it."

'God that's what he wanted.' Kakuzu had been getting more and more demanding with Hdian about sparing. He would ask that he attack in certain patterns or from certain placed so he could see how Suzume was reacting from a different angle. 'Fucking perfectionist.' Hidan looked over at Suzume who was getting water at the far left side of the clearing. She now wore her hair in a low ponytail but that was about the only difference. Her hair had grown a little longer but she tried to keep it a constant length, the two strands on either side of her head had grown longer, they now came down to her chin and she would often push them behind her ears whenever they were resting only to have them fall back down when she got moving again.

Kakuzu watched as Hidan looked at Suzume. His eyes would soften and almost glaze over. He knew that Hidan had it bad for her, but he didn't know if Hidan knew just how bad he had it. He also saw it in Suzume's eyes when they spared sometimes. It would only be for an instant, but he saw it. Kakuzu wasn't sure what to think of the situation. He had not felt emotions for decades, maybe even a century, he wasn't sure. He knew that this could be hard for both of them if they pursued it. There were a lot of problems he didn't know if they could get over. The slight age gap was probably the smallest, he had seen bigger ones. His second concern was Hidan's mouth, although he was keeping it under control when he was around Suzume he didn't know what would happen if he was with someone else. If he pissed off the wrong person he would be putting Suzume in danger because of his stupidity. The last, and biggest, concern for Kakuzu was Hidan's religion. He wasn't sure if he had truly told her everything about it. When he would spare with Suzume Kakuzu could tell that she was a kind soul, she would only use the amount of force necessary to get the job done, no more no less, she didn't have a killer's aura to her even though he was sure she had a pretty good kill count from her time in the anbu. He wondered how she would react when Hidan told her about the gruesome side of his ritual killings.

"Have you told her about your rituals yet?"

"No… I can't find the right time."

Hidan looked away. He didn't want to tell her, he didn't want her to know that side of his religion even though she was now apart of it. He knew that he was late on a kill and that soon she would have to start participating in them as well. Hidan took a deep breath in and let it out trying to think of a way to tell her.

"You know the longer you wait the harder it's gonna be."

"Yeah I fucking know that! I just don't know when I should tell her. It's not like I can say 'Hey by the way I'm a homicidal maniac who needs to ritualistically kill people every so often and now that I placed that sacred necklace on you, you are now obligated to do the same.' I can't say that to her."

Kakuzu watched his partner shake his head in dismay. He watched Hidan close in eyes to regain himself and run his hand through his hair to replace the few strands that strayed from their place. When he opened his eyes again they refocused on something passed Kakuzu. He stood up and composed himself. Kakuzu looked back to see Suzume walking over to them.

"Are we gonna get back to business?"

Suzume was enjoying the training she was getting. She had not had this much one on one attention since she joined the anbu. It was nice for someone to actually help her with her weaknesses, she would often find herself helping the others instead of working on herself. The anbu she had been assigned to had been a joke. It was made up of mostly ninja that the elders didn't care about. Suzume had come in one of the youngest but by far the most trained, living with the Kazekage's family had insured that. She easily progressed to be their leader and saved more lives than she could count. They were always put on mission that should have been handled by a more experienced squad, but the elders didn't care. If someone died then it was considered someone else they didn't have to worry about. Suzume still felt the bitterness in her heart. Hearing Kakuzu's voice brought her out of her mind.

"Actually Hidan is going to spare with you now. I want to watch you to find your next weak point."

"Oh.. Ok."

Suzume looked over at the silver haired man with a small smile. She had been growing more and more towards him since the kiss they shared. She still was confused about her feelings towards him, she shouldn't be feeling this way. He was a killer, a kidnapper, a rouge. But, so was she… The only difference between them was that she used her village as an excuse to kill and kidnap people, it would always be for the good of the village. Hidan's movement brought her out of her thoughts. He simply looked at her and began walking towards the middle of the clearing. Suzume followed with a confused expression on her face. It looked as though Hidan was deep in thought about something. Suzume simply turned and followed Hidan with Kakuzu behind her.

As the reached the center Kakuzu took his place to watch as Hidna and Suzume squared up. They began sparring with basic kicks and punches to test each other before getting more advanced combos in. As soon as Hidan saw his opening he took it to attack at Suzume's lower left side.

Kakuzu saw that her reaction was slow, but she managed to pivot her left foot back and give Hidan a right knee to his face. He was impressed that her reaction time had improved so greatly since she had begun training with him.

"Slow but you got by. I guess that will be good enough for now."

Kakuzu barely got done with his sentence before he saw Hidan lunge for Suzume. His eyes widened as Hidan sucker punched Suzume across her right cheek.

Suzume fell a few feet from where she had been. Looking up see who had struck her her anger flared when she saw Hidan with a bloody nose standing a few feet away.

"What the fuck Hidan!"

"You hit me in my face! My fucking face!"

"So that gives you a reason to cheap shot me!? We were sparing your gonna get hit in the face sometimes!"

"No one hits me in my fucking face bitch!"

Suzume froze. Her face changed from rage to a blank stare as she got up and brushed herself off. Looking at Hidan when she was done she asked,

"What did you just call me?"

Hidan felt a cold chill go down his spine. A screaming match he had no problem with he could yell for days if he had to, but Suzume had talked in little more than a whisper. Her eyes nor her face held no emotion. For the first time in his life Hidan did not know how to respond. After blinking for a few seconds he decided to say what he had said before.

"Ummm….. I called you a ... bi-."

Suzume's fist was against Hidan's cheek in less than a second. Hidan was sent flying back towards the woods, going through one tree and putting a sizable dent in the second one. Suzume looked out at where Hidan lay against the tree.

"No one calls me a bitch."

Kakuzu's eyes almost didn't believe what they saw. 'So that was where all her killer potential was.'

* * *

Hidan had stormed off to the nearby town to get food and cool his head. Kakuzu had made the fire and Suzume had unrolled the tarps for her and Hidan. Kakuzu talked about her technique and what he wanted to work on next until it was well after sundown. When Kakuzu noticed that Hidan was not coming back yet he gave Suzume some of his rations from the last few nights. He knew Hidan may not be back tonight. He had a way of going off and sulking whenever his pride was hurt. Without a word he got up and left Suzume by the fire. She watched him disappear into the darkness for the night and sat alone with only her thoughts to comfort her.

* * *

Suzume kept tending to the fire, it had been hours since Kakuzu left her. She wished Hidan was back. She hated being alone in a strange place, and she especially hated being alone and in the dark in a strange place. She had never liked the dark and it was a fear that she had never quite grown out of. She couldn't help but look up at the stars. She wondered if she could see any new ones since she was so far away from the sand. As she looked through the star filled night she couldn't help but get lost in the endless galaxy before her.

Hidan stepped into the clearing on the back edge of the tree line. He had stayed out longer than he expected but had cooled his head. He stopped when he saw that Suzume was still awake. He was sure that she would have gone to sleep. He took a deep breath as he continued to head in her direction. He knew what he had to do, and he didn't like it one bit.

The sound of footsteps caught Suzume's attention and she turned to see Hidan had finally returned. A sense of relief washed over her as she saw him and not some other rogue ninja looking for her.

"What are you doing up so late?"

"I was stargazing."

"I can see that. But what are you doing up so late?"

There was genuine concern in Hidan's voice. Suzume knew it was way past the time that she should have gone to bed.

"I couldn't sleep."

Suzume averted her eyes from Hidan's as he caught on to why she had stayed up.

"You don't like the dark do you?"

Suzume paused at Hidan's question. Turning her head away she added,

"I don't like being alone in a strange place either."

Hidan took another deep breath and exhaled.

"I'm sorry."

Susume turned her head back towards Hidan. He had a faint look of sadness in his eyes as he looked back at her.

"It's OK. We all need to go let off some steam when stuff happens. I should have -"

"No. I'm sorry for this afternoon."

Suzume's eyes widened. She never thought Hidan would swallow his pride and apologize. Hidan saw that she was about to speak and was quick to change the subject.

"I brought back some food. I know you have to be hungry."

"Actually I had some left overs that Kakuzu had. But, thank you."

"Oh. Well I guess we should get some sleep then."

"You're not hungry?"

"No. I ate on the way back."

Hidan and Suzume walked over to where their two tarps were laid out for them. Hidan put his bag from the town down and laid down on his tarp. Suzume followed and laid on the tarp closets to the fire.

"Hey Hidan."

Hidan looked over to see Suzume's back with the fire slowly burning in front of her.

"Yeah?"

"I forgive you."

Hidan's breath hitched for a second, then let it out. He had not known how badly he had needed to hear those words.

"Thank you."


	21. Chapter 21

A few days had passed and Hidan was finally ready to tell Suzume about the rituals of his religion. He waited until Kakuzu had gone into the woods and looked over at Suzume. She was finishing up a fish that they had caught earlier when she felt his eyes on her.

"What is it?"

Hidan took a deep breath before beginning.

"You know how we use to talk about my religion every night. And how you thought I'd told you everything."

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Well, I didn't really tell you everything about it."

Suzume felt the air change around them. As she looked into Hidan's eyes they gave her no sense of comfort. It was as if they held a sadness so great she did not want him to talk about it. She did not know how to respond to him, so she kept silent and waited for him to continue.

"In my religion we have to make sacrifices, and I'm not talking about giving something up for a period of time or anything like that. We have to kill people in the name of our lord."

Hidan gave Suzume a minute to process what she had just heard before continuing.

"When we fight someone we intake their blood and draw the diagram on my talisman on the ground in our own blood, that links their body with ours as long as we stay inside of the diagram. Then, we inflict various wounds onto our own body that get transferred to the victim. When that is done the pain that we feel turns into pure ecstasy, that is the reward we get for bringing a sacrifice to Jashin. The final part is inflicting a fatal wound on our own body and waiting until the victim dies. That concluded the ritual sacrifice."

Hidan watched as Suzume took in the new information. Her face fell as she looked at the grass in between them. Hidan waited for what felt like an eternity. His mind racing with endless possibilities. 'She'll hate me now. How could anyone love someone like him? Would she try to run? Would she try to kill herself?'

Suzume looked back up at Hidan and got his attention.

"So… you would die for your religion?"

Hidan looked at her with shock and confusion. He was sure that she would have angrily shouted or turned and sprinted away for involving her in something like this. But all she did was just stared at him

Suzume saw the confusion on Hidan's face and tried her question again.

"You would risk everything on the hopes that your lord would save you?"

Hidan took a second before answering. Trying to find the right words for an answer.

"No I wouldn't die for my religion,"

Suzume's mouth dropped and she was about to speak, but Hidan finished his sentence before she could.

"I would live for it."

Suzume's mouth slowly shut as those words impacted her more that she realized. She had always heard her comrades talk about what they would die for or who they would die for, but she had never heard someone say that they would live for something. Her mind realized that that was true sacrifice. It was easy to die for something or someone, but to live for something, that was truly impressive.

Hidan watched Suzume as she thought through everything and paused before he continued. Waiting for her full attention to come back to him.

"There's one more thing I need to talk to you about. When I put that necklace on you, you became apart of my religion. You are my equal in the eyes of Jashin. And that means that you must also participate in ritual killings."

Suzume's eyes widened in shock. Her body froze as she stared at the man in front of her. She could accept the fact that he needed to kill people. She had seen ninja kill and had killed people herself, but knowing that she had to kill someone in that kind of way made her stomach turn. She slowly began shook her head from side to side.

"Hidan… I can't….. I can't do that."

Hidan saw her eyes turn to disbelief and panic. She was still shaking her head back and forth as she started to stand. Hidan knew he had to do something before she started to run.

"Hey listen it won't be that bad. The pain is only for a second and you won't have to do it often, maybe like once a year."

Suzume heard none of Hidan's words as she continued to go into a downward spiral. There were too many voices talking in her head for her to even know which way was up or down. She turned away from him and ran as fast as her legs would carry her. Blindly running into low branches not even caring to knock them out of the way, tears streaming down her face. She felt like a rat caught in a trap with no way of escaping. She couldn't take off the necklace, she had tried, and she doubted Hidan would take it off even if she asked him to. She heard Hidan running behind her, calling out her name and yelling at her to stop, but she couldn't. She wanted to run as far away as she could, she wanted to run back into her childhood where the world wasn't as messed up as it was now. She closed her eyes as she ran not caring about which way she went or how far she ran.

Hidan was gaining on Suzume as he tried to catch her. He was within a few feet of reaching out and grabbing her before she tripped over a high tree root and fell face first into the ground. Hidan grabbed her arm as she made an attempt to get up and keep running.

Suzume kept looking to the direction that she wanted to run. Straining against Hidan's grip on her arm.

Hidan watched her pull against him while she muttered to herself.

"I can't… I can't"

Hidan felt a wave of guilt wash over him. This was all his fault, if he hadn't have placed that stupid necklace on her none of this would have happened. He sighed as he thought about how this kind of thing had happened once in his childhood.

* * *

Hidan followed his father up the stairs to the temple. This was the day he became a true follower of Jashin, the day he got his first kill.

As they lined up inside Hidan was the first to go, being the son of the leader of the clan he had the most to prove. His kill went off without much effort, the kidnapped shinobi not making much of a fuss as Hidan played with various depths of cuts until he reached the killing blow. As he recovered he walked towards his father who handed him the necklace that he still wears, and took his place at his side to watch the others.

Everyone but one of the children had gone. Some had had no problem while others needed coaching with the first few cuts and punctures. The last to go was the son of a man who had fought with Hidan's father for the top kill count. Hidan had always told him that it did not matter how many people you killed, but that you killed them in the name of their lord. As Hidan watched the boy step into the middle of the temple another ninja was brought out to him. Hidan watched as he slowly approached the blindfolded shinobi and made a small cut on his arm. He ingested the blood and began back to the center of the room. As he stood there he held his spike up to his hand hesitating before plunging it into his palm. Crying out in pain he began making the ritual symbol on the floor. The boy looked at his skin as it changed from its pale color to black with small white markings of where his bones were. He looked up at his victim then over to his father. Holding up his spear he put the point against his chest, trembling he continued to look at his father with fear and hesitation in his eyes.

Hidan watched as the boy's father mouthed the words 'Do it' over and over again. He watched as the boy slowly began to cry saying that he couldn't, repeating 'I can't' over and over again. He watched as the boy's father walked over to his son and demanded that he finish what he started, the boy shaking his head over and over, again saying that he couldn't do it. Hidan watched his father start to run over to the boy, as the father grabbed his son, held his hands down and plunged the spike into the boy's chest himself.

The entire clan was shocked. No one in the clan had even heard of someone doing something like this. There were murmurs then silence as Hidan's father rushed over to the boy.

"What have you done!"

Hidan's father held the small child in his arms as he yelled at the boy's parent. The man was silent, all he did was stare at he motionless boy in the clan leader's arms wondering the same question himself. Hidan's father glared at the man before taking the boy in his arms and rushing his up to the top floor.

As they bursts through the door Hidan's mother turned in shock and at her husband. She instantly noticed the small child in his hands and rushed over to find out what had happened.

"His father landed the killing blow on him, he fell instantly but his skin didn't return to normal and he's freezing cold. My dearest can you do anything for him"

Hidan's mother looked into her husband's eyes and took the child from him. As soon as he hands touched him she knew it was too late. Someone had interfered with the ritual, and this poor child had payed the price.

Hidan and the boys father ran up the stairs in time to see Hidan's mother place the boy on an alter table and lay a tan sheet over him. Taking her pendant in her hands and sending up a silent prayer to their lord.

* * *

Hidan continued to stare at Suzume. His mind kept flashing between the dead boy's body and her trembling figure. A new emotion overtook him as he pulled her into him and wrapped his arms tightly around her. A mix of anger, frustration, and guilt overtook him and he held on to Suzume for dear life as she thrashed against him, screaming at him to let her go and to get away. Hidan didn't care. All he could think of was finding some way to get her out of the contract he had signed for her. Hidan pulled her closer and laid his head on top of hers. Suzume had stopped fighting him and was now crying into his chest, holding onto the sides of his cloak for dear life. Hidan stayed like that for hours. Calming waiting for Suzume to calm down so they could talk more about the predicament that he had caused, but when Hidan opened back his eyes and looked down Suzume had fallen asleep in his arms. Her eyes were still red and puffy and she still had wet streaks down her cheeks. Carefully he maneuvered his arms around her and picked her up bridle style and began to carry her back to camp.

As Hidan slowly made his way back into the clearing of the campsite he felt a sense of relief. He had told her the truth and now they could start moving forward with how to deal with the problem that he had caused. He walked over to their tarps and laid Suzume down on hers, but he couldn't let her go. He knelt down, letting Suzume's head rest on the crook of his arm as he took his free hand and wiped away the wet marks on Suzume's cheeks. Hidan took a deep breath before gentle laying himself down right next to Suzume and wrapping his free arm around her once more. Half of him was concerned that she would wake up and run again and the other half still could not fight the image of the dead boy in his mind. Hidan pulled himself closer to Suzume as he looked her over one more time then laid his head down to sleep. Nesting his head on top of hers and whispering to her.

"I will fix this. I will protect you. "


	22. Chapter 22

Suzume stirred in Hidan's arms, feeling the warmth his body gave off and snuggling closer to it. She felt strong arms pull around her securing her against the wall of warmth. Slowly Suzume opened her eyes, blinking a few times before realizing she was against someone's chest. Suzume craned her neck to look up at Hidan's sleeping face, slightly tilted down as if he was still looking at her. A faint blush came to her cheeks as she realized just how close she was to him. Fully pressed against his body, feeling every breath of his lungs as his strong chest moved with each breath.

"Hidan."

Suzume's voice was little more than a whisper, but she felt the arms around her tighten more and Hidan began to wake up. He let out a groan as he slowly opened his eyes to look down at Suzume, her brown eyes meeting his gaze. Suzume couldn't understand the look on Hidan's face, it was a mix of concern, guilt, regret, and something else that Suzume could not identify. Suddenly, Hidan pulled Suzume's head into his chest, bringing his head down on top of hers. Feeling her soft hair between his fingers and burning her scent into his memory. He wished he could freeze time, if he could just have her in his arms for all of time that would be enough. 'Not even the thrill or ecstasy of killing could compare to this.'

'What's this feeling?' Suzume thought to herself as she was swallowed by Hidan. She could not escape the feeling that this was the ultimate protection, that no matter what happened as long as she stayed within Hidan's arms no one could touch her. She closed her eyes and let herself sink into Hidan's chest. Wishing that they could stay like this forever.

Hidan was the first to sense a new presence in the clearing. He looked up to see his partner as grumpy as ever.

"Fuck off Kakuzu. Can't you see we're busy."

Suzume felt her cheeks blush even more. She had not thought about someone basically walking in on them.

"We need to move. This is the day you said we were going isn't it?"

Hidan's face turned into a scowl that could match his partners. With a huaf Hidan lifted himself up to a sitting position, bringing Suzume up with him. As Hidan repositioned and got to his feet he held a hand down for Suzume to take. Suzume, with Hidan's help, raiser herself to her feet before looking back at Kakuzu. He gaze was fixed on Hidan, still waiting for an answer to his question.

"Yeah. Today's the day."

With that group dismantled their camp and began in the direction of Hidan's home. Within a few hours they had arrived.

* * *

The group looked up at once impressive wooden walls that had been reclaimed by nature. As they walked towards the entrance gate Suzume could not help but wonder what had happened here. There was a strange aura in the air and a coldness that she could not shake. As they went inside Suzume could see the charred remains of houses and other structures. She stayed close to Hidan as he led the way through the once clean streets of his home. Kakuzu wondered in a different direction away from them. 'Probably going to look for anything he could make a buck on.' Suzume thought. As she and Hidan continued walking passed the remains of a once proud village Suzume kept glancing at Hidan's face. She could not read any emotion as he faced forward, concentrating on whatever was ahead of them. A stoic look appeared on his face as they approached the main building in the center of the town.

As soon as Suzume entered the building her nose curled with the stench of blood. There was no sign of it anywhere in the charred guts of the building but, the smell still overwhelmed her senses. She again looked to Hdian who kept his eyes forward. Only pausing to look around the room once, then walking to a small staircase to the left of the room.

As they walked up the stairs the sound of creaking wood groaned beneath their feet. Suzume was sure that they were going to give out at any second, but to her surprise they stood until they reached what appeared to be an altar room, or maybe it was a church of some kind. Suzume couldn't decide due to all the decay. Hidan did not stop to look at the ruins, he continued to the left of the room to a open door. Suzume followed behind Hidan as they made their way back outside. Suzume looked around and found that they were on a large hill above where they had first entered the building. The slope of it was almost vertical and as she looked out she noticed that she could see a good amount of the village.

"Well, well. I see the pride of the village couldn't stay away after all. "

Suzume wiped her head around at the new voice. She had been sure that there was no one else her with them when they walked through the doorway. The voice belonged to a man slightly shorter than Hidan. Suzume looked over his light brown hair slowly moving in the wind, dark brown eyes that held a malicious intent, and a crooked smile that sent goosebumps over her skin. He wore a white robe with black trim. He also carried a chain and sickle at his side.

His eyes drifted from Hidan to Suzume.

"And I see you brought your latest play thing as well. You always did have someone new every month."

The stranger kept his eyes on Suzume. As if he was waiting for her to say something in response to his statement. Suzume only stared back at the stranger wondering what he was talking about. The next thing she was was Hidan's cloak as he stepped in front of her.

"This has nothing to do with her. Now give me back what's mine Ichirou."

Hidan's voice was low and dangerous. Suzume felt the air change around her as Hidan and Ichirou squared each other up.

"Oh. You mean this."

Ichirou pulled out something from under his robe. As he held his hand out Suzume could see that it was just like the necklace she had around her neck, except this one had a beautiful amethyst like jewel on the front instead of the silver plate that was on hers.

"This is the only prize I got for my vengeance on your stupid father. Like I would ever give it up!"

Hidan felt the hair on the back of his neck stand as a primal rage overcame him. He pulled out his scythe then, almost in the blink of Suzume's eye, he lept at Ichirou.

As Hidan and Ichirou locked themselves in combat Suzume took a few jumps back to not get in the way. She knew that this was a fight that she could not involve herself in. There were bigger things between them than just a simple skirmish.

"That wasn't his fault! Your father is the one who killed your brother."

"My father was only trying to make our family strong! We had everything until you came along and showed everyone up. Calling yourself the favorite of Jashin. That title should have been my brothers!."

Suzume watched as the two men exchanged blows and verbal assaults at each other. Everything was going over her head as to whose father was to blame for what and what any of this had to do with Hidan and the man he was fighting. She was so entranced with the ongoing battle that she did not notice the slender shadow approaching her from behind.


	23. Chapter 23

Susume's instincts finally kicked in right before the shadow jumped on her. She sidestepped and rolled across the ground to face her assailant.

She was met with a beautiful women in front of her. Only a few years older than herself. She had long blonde hair, a greenish blue tint to her eyes, and a fit slim body. She wore a form fitting garb with shorts that matched Ichiro's white robes with a black accent on the borders. Her malicious smile showed off her perfect white teeth as she looked down on Suzume.

"Heh. Not bad for a play thing. But don't get too comfortable. Once I get my Hidan back we'll slaughter you toge-."

The woman's face froze as she saw the small twinkle of the necklace that was on Suzume's neck. Her face twisted into a mix of rage and jealousy as she glanced from the necklace to Hidan, who was still in the middle of his fight.

Suzume watched as the eyes of the woman in front of her shifted towards Hidan. She immediately found the intent of revenge as she began to lurch forward. In a fit of rage she started running towards Hidan, forgetting all about Suzume.

Suzume saw the intent in the blonde woman's eye and jumped in front of her, blocking her view of Hidan. She saw another wave of anger come into the woman's eyes and she pulled out a kunai and trained her focus back on Suzume.

"So, the little slut wants to die protecting her lover."

"I know enough about their fight that it does not involve you or I."

Suzume's voice was firm as she stared at her opponent. Pulling out her own kunai she readied herself for the oncoming fight.

"Oh. You know about their fight? Then please tell me what Hidan had the confidence to tell you! I'll even tell you if he lied or not."

Suzume furrowed her brows as she was slightly taken aback by her question. She had not asked Hidan much of his childhood and he had never confided anything to her. She watched as the mystery women's face twisted back into an evil smile.

"He hasn't told you anything has he! And here I thought you may actually be something. Where did he pick you up anyway? Some red light district? Where you a prisoner that got sold off? Or did mommy and daddy not want you anymore so they gave you up to the first person to come along?"

Suzume did not change her face or stance as the woman in front of her rattled off insults. She was taught better than to be baited into a blind attack. Instead she calmed her mind and spoke in a normal tone.

"I may not be the person he confides in yet. But I know that their fight does not concern us. Besides, I think he trusts the person he place this necklace on more than the person who actually looks like they belong in the red light district."

Suzume put her hand across her necklace as she watched her opponents face turn into a scowl. She knew she had already won the mental war that goes on before an actual fight. Suzume set a smile on her lips as she dealt the finishing blow.

"I will not let you disturb their fight. I will not let you interfere with _my_ Hidan."

Suzume gave a slight pause before saying 'my Hidan' just to let it sink in that much deeper. In the next instant she was locked in combat.

* * *

Ichiro and Hidan blocked using his chain against Hidan's scythe. Out of the corner of his eye he glanced at the two women interlocked in a battle of their own. A small smirk drew across his face as he looked back at Hidan, completely unaware of what was transpiring behind him. Ichiro looked back at Hidan and let a smile come to his lips.

"Looks like your mother isn't the only one you'll lose at this place."

"What the hell are you yapping about."

Hidan did not waver his sight from Ichiro. He was still caught up in facing his family's murderer to worry about anything other than this fight.

Ichiro let out a small laugh. Hidan was as stupid as ever. Completely caught up in what

was going on with himself that he didn't see what was happening around him.

"I'm going to saver the look you have on your face when she dies."

HIdan's face turned to confusion as he thought about who Ichiro was talking about. In the next instant he remembered that Suzume was with him. Pushing back from Ichiro he glanced behind him, only to see two women locked in battle. Hidan's eyes widened as he saw who Suzume was interlocked with.

"Rin?"

Hidan could not believe what his eyes had seen as he returned his vision back to Ichiro. He had thought Rin had parrished with everyone else. Seeing her brought back memorize that Hidan had buried long ago.

'I can't let her get caught up in a fight she knows nothing about.'

Hidan did not think the fight he had come here for would turn out like this. He had planned to only fight Ichiro one on one, kill him, take his mother's necklace back, then find a way to get Suzume out of her contract, and maybe ask her to stay with him.

Ichiro saw that Hidan had lost his focus for a moment and took the opportunity. Within a second he was nose to nose with Hidan slicing at him with his syckle. Ichiro saw Hidan struggle to block his attack and pulled out a kunai from his sleeve. He slashed at Hidan just reaching out enough to graze his hand.

Hidan saw Ichiro lick the side of his blade and knew he had made a fatal mistake. He had to stop the last part of the ritual from being completed.

Ichiro jumped back creating some distance between them, causing Hidan to start swinging his scythe for mid range attacking. Ichiro saw how frustrated Hidan was getting. He was becoming sloppy with his swings, some of them not even coming close to connecting. Ichiro formed a plan in his head and slowly started to move so his back was facing the two sparing women.

Rin and Suzme were locked in a stalemate. Each having a kunai blocked by the opposing ninja. Rin caught movement in the corner of her eye and looked to see Ichiro slowly coming their way, she also saw Hidan swinging his scythe without much care and instantly realized what Ichiro was trying to do. Within a few jumps Ichiro was right in front of Suzume, causing Hidan to once again attack. Simultaneously, as Ichiro jumped out of the way Rin kicked Suzume in the abdomen causing her to move back just enough to where she was in the line of fire.

"Susume!"

Hearing Hidan's voice Suzume turned her head only to see the blades of his scythe coming straight at her. She dropped to the ground to escape the slicing blades, only to find that a shadow was now overtop of here. Suzume let out a scream as Rin plunged her kunai into her arm. In the next second she had jumped off and was standing a few feet back beside Ichiro.

Hidan ran over to Suzume checking her wound before looking up and Rin licking the blood off of her blade.

'I can't let them finish the ritual.'

"Let the ritual commence."

Hidan was confused at Ichiro's statement.

'They hadn't drawn the diagram yet, so what is he talking about?'

Rin than began to make hand signs, slowly the ground beneath them began to blow away. Unveiling a giant blood diagram.

Hidan looked over at Suzume. Her face was frozen with fear. Her eyes were darting about in an attempt to think of how they were going to get out. Suddenly, Suzume yelped and grabbed her right thigh. Hidan looked down to see a fresh wound forming where her hands were. He looked over at Rin whose skin turning into her skeletal form for the ritual. Smiling as the pain turned into pleasure for her.

"How does the little slut like that?"

"Stop it Rin! This has nothing to do with her."

Hidan watched Rin's face twist from pleasure to anger, as she glared at Hidan.

"Oh it doesn't. I was the one you were supposed to be with. Not that slut. You were promised to me and me alone."

Rin withdrew her kunai from her thigh, raised it up and plunged it back down into her side just above her hip.

Again, Hidan heard a cry form Suzume as she instantly felt the pain from the blow.

"Stop it Rin!"

Rin looked at Hidan as the anger grew in his eyes. She felt a pang of sorrow in her chest as she came the conclusion of what this Suzume girl really meant to him. She had thought that once she had started the ritual Hidan would either come join her in a kill or at least bargain his life for hers. But he just stood there by her side. Her emotions slowly turned to anger as her hope that they could still be together vanished.

"So I guess you do love her."

Rin's voice was small, almost a whisper. But even Suzume heard it through her pain.

Suzume turned her head to look at Hidan. He was still staring at Rin, but the anger had drained from his face. Slowly, he turned his face down toward Suzume. She saw him hesitate before opening his mouth.

"I…."

Suzume watched as Hidan opened his mouth to finish his sentence. Her and Rin were hanging on his next words, but they did not come. Suzume watched as Hidan's face grimace in pain as he suddenly dropped to one knee. She looked over to see Ichiro with a metal spike skewered through his thigh.

Suzume saw the anger return to Hidan's face as Ichiro approached them.

Hidan readied his scythe for an attack as his family's murder slowly walked towards him.

"Rin."

Ichiro talked in a normal tone as his partner appeared behind Suzume in a flash.

'She's faster than I thought.'

The next thing Suzume felt was her neck being pulled back as Rin grabbed a handful of her hair. She was still able to just see Hidan as he glanced from her to the approaching Ichiro, pondering his next move.

"Put it down Hidan."

Hidan obayed Ichiro's command and put down his scythe.

"Now get down on your knees."

Again, Suzume watched as Hidan obayed.

Ichiro let a smile come to his lips as he played out scenarios in his head. After some thought he finally came up with one to his liking.

"How would you feel if you could save her?"

Hidan stiffened and slowly turned his eyes to look at Suzume.

"You would do anything right? Since you couldn't save your mother."

Hidan did not answer, but Ichiro took it as a 'yes'.

"Your life for hers, you die and we set her free."

Hidan's eyes did not leave Suzume as Ichiro spoke. 'She would live.'

Suzume's mind was flooded with emotion. 'Where would I go? I couldn't go back could I? What would everyone think? Had everything changed? Had everyone moved on? Had he moved on?'

Suzume felt unwanted tears begin to form in her eyes. 'Things were just starting to get into a normal pattern….. I was happy.'

Suzume watched as Ichiro took out a small knife and cut the corner of his hand, allowing some of the blood to dip down onto Hidan's lips. She saw Hidan lick the blood off of his lips and his skin slowly change color to match Ichiro's and Rin's.

"I've been waiting a lifetime for this."

Ichiro held up his spike, his gaze focusing on the center of Hidan's chest. He was going to die just like his brother had.


	24. Chapter 24

Before even Suzume herself knew what was happening, her body began to move. Everything went in slow motion around her. Years of intense training kick in all at once as she reached into her leg pouch. Pulling out a kunai she swung her hand over her head and found her mark on Rin's hand. Her hair released and Suzume made one leap to get in front of Hidan as Ichiro started to move his spear towards him. Her own hand began to burn with the repercussions of the ritual. The next thing she saw were the most beautiful violet eyes staring straight at her.

Hidan did not see her move until she was right in front of him. She was awkwardly bent over him in a half standing position. His eyes stared into hers, the once bright amber glow was now a dull brown as she appeared to almost look past him. Moving his eyes down he saw blood coming out of the corner of her mouth, sliding down her face in a steady flow. His eyes widened as he saw the glint of the metal spike clutched between her bloody hands, looking down the edge he saw the spike buried within Suzume's chest.

"Please… don't….leave…...me."

Every word was little more than a whisper to Hidan. He saw the tears start to overflow in her eyes.

"Suzume…"

Hidan could not move. He kept staring into Suzme's eyes. He was about to ask her why she had done such a foolish thing when he heard Ichiro chuckle.

"Hidan, Hidan, Hidan. You are a sorry excuse for a person. First you draw this poor girl into your life, then when she gets a chance at freedom you take that from her too."

Hidan felt anger begin to grow as he looked at Ichiro.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

All this time Hidan had been thinking of how to get Suzume out of this. How dare he say that to him.

"It's simple, you forced her to move with your necklace. You just couldn't stand the thought of truely dying could you?"

Hidan's eyes widened at his statement as his anger continued to grow. Ichiro's tone was dull and slightly sarcastic as he looked down at the bloody back of Suzume.

"I would never do that! I was willing to give my life for hers!"

Suzume watched Hidan argue with Ichiro with the little consciousness that she had left. 'Would he really give his life for mine? Why? Do I mean that much to him?' All these thoughts were spinning around in her mind with no clear answer. Suzume felt her eyes slowly closing against her will. As the world slowed down once more she finally gave in to the dark.

* * *

"Hello my child."

Suzume opened her eyes to find herself floating in a dark void. She was no longer in pain, as she shifted her eyes over her body finding no open wounds.

"Are you going to say 'Hello' back?"

Suzume once again heard a deep voice echoing from the darkness in front of her.

"He...Hello….. Who are you?"

"I am the one you have come to know as Jasin."

"So you are real?"

Suzume had not meant for her to actually speak out loud and immediately thought about apologizing to the unknown voice.

"There is no need to apologize. I am as real as any other lord or deity that people believe in. As long as people believe we will continue to exist. But, enough about me. You have chosen to put your life on the line for someone else?"

"Yes."

"Do you know why?"

"Ichiro said that Hidan made me jump in front of him to save his own life by using the necklace."

"Do you believe that?"

Suzume looked down towards her feet. She had not felt a pull from the necklace to act. Her legs just moved.

"No….. I just…..I didn't want to be alone anymore.. That's why I moved."

Suzume' s mind returned to Hidan. He was the last person that she had. He had killed her friends, kidnapped her, taken away her freedom….. But, he had also saved her, protected her from the Akatsuki, and was willing to die to release her. Suzume's head was full of doubt of how she felt about him and what he truly meant to her.

"I see you are conflicted in your heart. What if I gave you the freedom to choose your fate?"

All of the thoughts swirling within Suzume's mind stopped in an instant. She looked back out into the void in front of her.

"Would you really do that?"

Suzume was in disbelief. Why would the being that Hidan had devoted his entire life too just let her go almost on a whim.

"Of course. Hidan is one of my favorite followers. His family is the reason that I am here today, and for that I owe them a favor."

Suzume was confused by his statement.

"But why wouldn't you save Hidan's life? Why chose to let me go?"

The voice took a second to respond. Almost as if it was waiting for Suzume to come to the conclusion on her own.

"Because he cares too much for you to be that selfish. He would rather you be safe and out of harm's way then save himself. Even as he faced death he sent me a prayer to made sure that Ichiro stood by his side of the bargen to give you your freedom. So I ask you again, what is it that you want?"

Suzume did not speak. She knew that Hidan had cared for her. It showed in the way that he acted but, she had no idea that his feelings were that deep. She looked inside herself and found that she too had begun to grow feelings for him. Still, there was something that she had to know.

"Answer me one question before I make my choice."

The voice did not respond to Suzume. She took the silence as the voice giving her the okay to ask her question.

"Has Hidan been using the necklace to control my feelings? Did he use this necklace to make me grow certain feelings towards him?"

Suzume stared into the darkness. Awaiting the response that would decide what she wanted to do.

* * *

The sound a body collapsing and of someone choking on blood caught the attention of Ichiro and Hidan. They both looked over to where Rin had been standing only to find her on the ground in a puddle of her own blood.

"Rin get up! What's the matter?"

Through a gargle of blood Rin responded,

"You idiot….. You interfered…... with the ritual…. She was my kill… and you killed her."

Ichiro's eye widened as he realized what he had done. He gritted his teeth as he returned his look back to Hidan. Tightening his grip on his spear he twisted it and wrenched it from Suzume's body, causing her to fall lifelessly forward. Seeing her fall Ichiro immediately repositioned his spear for Hidan once again.

Hidan let Suzume fall into his arms before leaping away from Ichiro, grabbing the wire rope of his scythe in the process. He looked down to see her lifeless face, the blood drying on her chin, and the gaping wound in her chest. He cradled her against his chest as he felt tears starting to pain his eyes. 'He's gonna pay for this.'

Hidan layed Suzume down next to him on the ground and returned his attention to Ichiro. He saw the same anger for Rin that he had for Suzume. Drawing his scythe as he stood he once again charged at Ichiro.

Ichiro once again aimed his spear at his leg and plugged it into his own flesh. Looking up he was confused as to why Hidan was still charging him.

Hidan met Ichiro's blade with his scythe as they interlocked in combat.

"Why are you still able to move? You should be on the ground with that wound."

Hidan let a smirk come to his face as Ichiro watched him in confusion.

"Didn't you hear Rin? You interrupted the ritual. Not only for Rin, but also for yourself. Suzume put her body between you and I. And when you stabbed her she broke the connection between us. You were so concerned about Rin that you didn't even notice your skin changing back."

Ichiro's eye widened as he looked down at his and Hidna's skin. Indeed, it had gone back to its original color. He glanced behind Hidan to look at Suzume still lying lifeless on the ground. 'I'll make both of them pay for what they have done.'

* * *

Suzume felt a breath come back into her lungs as she began to open her eyes.

"Hidan?"

Suzume slowly lifted her head looking for the silver haired man when the sound of clanging metal caught her attention. She turned her eyes to see Hidan and Ichiro trading blows with each other. There was no pain as she began to twitch her fingers and arms. Getting a feel of her muscles and seeing if any of Rin's strikes had caused more damage then she had anticipated. Finding no hiderances she turned her head to better see the two men. She knew she would only get one chance to strike.

Suzume watched as the two men danced around the opening, slowly Ichiro began to doge Hidan in a circular motion. Turning his back toward Suzume, she struck. In one smooth motion she tucked her feet under herself and pushed off. Pulling her last kunai from her pouch she sliced into Ichiro's back as she jumped past him.

Hidan's eyes widened with disbelief as Suzume seemingly came back to life. He watched her turn her head to look at an equally stunned Ichiro as she licked some of his blood off of her blade. Her skin slowly turning black and outlining her bones in white. Hidan noticed that her pattern was different though. All of the shifts he had seen always had a pattern of semi outlined bones, his included with the lack of closure on his right orbital socket, and disconnected jaw bone on his face. But, Suzume did not have any flaws in her reaper form. Every bone was perfect from what Hidan could see.

Ichiro could not believe his eyes. He had only hears the myths of people ascending to this certain form. He didn't believe it could actually be accomplished.

Suzume watched as Ichiro's face as she transformed. His eyes went from shock to pure fear as he realized what was happening.

"Hidan. Your spear."

Hidan paused as he watched Suzume hold out her hand, not taking her eyes off of Ichiro. Then, he reached into his cloak and pulled out his compressed spear. He tossed it to Suzume still trying to wrap his head around how she was alive.

With a flick of her wrist Suzume lengthed the spear to its full length and placed the tip against her chest.

"Return what you have stolen."

Ichiro, still stunned, slowly reached into his cloak and pulled out the amethyst jeweled necklace and held it towards Hidan.

"Here. Take it. I'll leave so just let me go."

Suzume watched as Ichiro almost pleaded with his eyes to be let go. A wave of anger came over her as she realized just how pitiful he was.

"It's funny how you ask for your life. But you would take others without a second thought."

Suzume's voice was monotone, almost in a disappointed way. She was expecting more of him cursing her name as he died instead of begging for his life.

Ichiro had no rebuttal to her comment. Instead he watched in horror as she raised the spike to arms length. Then, plunged it through her chest. He felt no pain at first, only the warm sensation of blood dripping down his body. Then, all at once his body was on fire. His lungs gasped for air that they could not receive, blood pooled in his mouth causing his to choke and cough. He dropped to his knees as the world around him became blurred and dizzy before finally falling face first onto the ground.

Suzume felt nothing. She had no pain from her self inflicted wound and also no pleasurable feeling from the death of a sacrifice. She only felt the sensation of it being hard for her to breath.

Hidan watched the blood pour out of Ichiro. His eyes shifting to the necklace that fell from his hand a few inches away from him. He walked over and retrieved the prize possession. Bringing it up to his face he closed his eyes as he felt a pain in his heart at the memory of his dead mother. The sound of a body hitting the ground off to the side of the clearing gained his attention as he saw a mountain of a man lying face down dead just outside of the forest line. Not a few seconds later another man was thrown on top of the first one. The had similar clothing to that of Ichiro and Rin. Hidan blinked as he saw Kakuzu emerge from the forest. He had taken off his cloak in the fight and was breathing heavily.

"So, you finally decided to show up. Kakuzu."

Hidan turned back to see Suzume with a small smile as she teased Kakuzu. He was about to let a smile also come to his lips when he noticed that Suzume was swaying backwards. Hidan watched in shock as her eyes rolled back into her head and fell onto the ground. Once again having a lifeless look to her.


	25. Chapter 25

Hidan rushed over to her still form. Kneeling over her he swept his vision from her head to her feet. Not knowing if he should touch her.

Kakuzu came over and looked down at Hidan.

"What happened?"

"I don't know."

Hidan continued to watch Suzume. It looked like how he collapsed at the end of his rituals. But, this had not been a normal ritual. She had taken the life of another immortal, something Hidan had never even heard of before. His mind was racing on what he should do. His fingers hovered over her body, still unsure.

"So you decided to come home after all."

Both Hidan and Kakuzu took up fighting stances from the surprise of the unfamiliar voice. The sound of leaves crunching and the movement of branches revealed an old man. He was short, long grey hair came down to the middle of his back, his eyebrows were thick and long. A small smile played on his lips as his grey eyes watched Hidan. He looked well for an old man, the skin around his eyes and mouth were the only places he had traces of wrinkles. He wore a simple blue monsuke with geta on his feet.

As he entered the clearing Hidan's eyes widened with shock realizing who this man was.

"Lord Ryuu?"

"Who's that?"

Kakuzu was still tense at the old man's presence. He didn't like opponents who could hide were they were for so long even to such a skilled ninja as himself.

"He's Rin's grandfather."

Hidan's voice was that of someone who baffled. He had thought his whole village had been killed in Ichiro's quest for revenge, but now, in the span of less then a day he had seen three people from his past.

"Who the hell is Rin?"

Kakuzu's voice was raised in anger as Hidan gave him answers that made no sense to him. 'Rin, Ryuu, who the hell were these people.'

"Rin, was, that girl laying over there."

Ryuu pointed his finger to Rin who was lying a few feet behind Suzume. Kakuzu followed the old man's finger and glanced at the dead body, then returned his attention to Ryuu.

Hidan looked between Ryuu and Suzume. Hoping he could give a reason for the events he had just witnessed.

"What happened to her?"

Hidan's voice was quiet. Almost like he did not want an answer. He was terrified that it would be something he would not like.

"Before I explain anything, you may want to get that spear out of her chest. She's probably having a hard time breathing with it in there."

Hidan nodded and turned back to Suzume's still form. He placed his left hand on Suzume's shoulder while his other hand gripped the spear that was buried within her chest. His hands were shaky as he hesitated. Hidan took a deep breath, then closed his eyes as he pulled the long spike out of Suzume's chest. He tossed the object on the ground and watched the blood slowly come out of her wound. Then, to his amazement, her chest started to rise and fall as she began to take breaths on her own. He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw signs of life.

"She will take a while to recover from her first ritual. Come, I have a place not too far from here where we can talk."

As Ryuu started to turn and walk away, Hidan brought his arms under Suzume. Gently guiding her body closer to his until he was carrying her bridal style. He raised his arm and repositioned until her head was neatly tucked into the space between his chest and arm. When he was satisfied he had a good grip he turned and faced Ryuu who was standing atop a tree branch waiting for them to follow.

* * *

Hidan and Kakuzu lept from tree branch to tree branch following Ryuu.

"Hidan. Can we really trust him?"

"Huh? Of course we can trust him. He use to be my dad's right hand man. I would put my own life in his hands."

"Hidan we just killed his granddaughter."

Kakuzu's tone was hushed. He didn't like the idea of going off with someone who could so easily hide his presence from them.

"I told you it's fine."

But even as he spoke, Hidan's mind was wavering. They had killed his only grandchild. He glanced down at Suzume in his arms, vowing again to protect her.

"I hope it's be fine."

Kakuzu scowled at his stupid partner. He made a mental note to never let Hidan pick a mission again, let alone a personal one.

* * *

Ryuu led them to a small wooden house nestled deep within the forest. Far enough away from any village or town to go unnoticed.

Kakuzu glanced over the outside and surrounding area before walking in behind Ryuu and Hidan. They were led into the middle room of the house. It was traditional with tatami mats spanning the whole length of the floor, screen walls and a small table with cushions in the center of the room.

Ryuu sat down on the far side of the room and invited Hidan and Kakuzu to sit across the table from him. Hidan gentle repositioned Suzume in his arms as he sat down. She was now sideways in his lap with her head tucked under his chin. Kakuzu took a moment to once again survey his surroundings before sitting with Hidan.

"I'm sure you have many questions to ask me. I will make some tea for us to talk over."

Ryuu looked at Kakuzu with a small smile on his face.

"Lord Ryuu, I can fill Kakuzu in as you make tea."

Ryuu let out a laugh as he turned to grab the supplies for the tea.

"I think it would be better for you to go into the other room and clean your bride up. You'll find a fresh kimono for her in the closet."

Ryuu turned to look back on Hidan when he did not respond. His face was turned away staring off at something in the corner of the room.

"What is troubling you Hidan? You were never this shy when you were a child."

"I just….I don't know what to do."

Ryuu turned to face Hidan leaving the tea instruments behind him.

"Come."

Ryuu stood and beconded for Hidan to do the same. He did such with Suzume back in his arms. He followed Ryuu to a side room, leaving Kakuzu still on edge.

Ryuu closed the door behind them. The side room was similar to the other room, tatami mats lined the floor and screened walls surrounded them. The only difference was that this room was smaller and did not have a table.

Ryuu sat on the floor and again motioned for Hidan to follow his lead.

"What is troubling you Hidan?"

Hidan readjusted again as he sat, cradling Suzume. He gave a deep sigh before answering.

"Lord Ryuu, you granddaughter is dead, I broke my promise to be with partnered with Rin, we are the last of the clan, and I don't know what to do about her."

Hidan looked down at Suzume when he said 'her'. His eyes holding sorrow at the mess he had made. Hidan let his eyes close as he recalled all the events that had led him to this point.

"My granddaughter could not be helped Hidan, she chose her path and followed it to the end. It seems to actually have went according to plan."

As Hidan looked up he saw that Ryuu was looking down at Suzume. Ryuu's eyes gently looked back to meet Hidan's.

"You remind me a lot of your father Hidan. I don't know if you would have been happy with Rin. She was cold. Make no mistake she did like you, but I do not know if it would have lasted long. You were always dreaming about meeting someone like your mother. Someone that would love you as much as you loved them. Granted, you did it in the reverse way that your father did, but you still seem to be making it work."

Ryuu gave Hidan a small smile.

"Well, now that we've settled the Rin thing you may want to get her cleaned up. You'll find a black kimono in the draw over there and there is a small bath beyond the back wall here."

As Ryuu got up to leave he looked over at Hidan to find a small blush come to his face. Puzzled, he continued to watch as Hidan looked around the room making no attempt to get up and start.

"Hidan? Have you never seen a women nacked before?"

"Of course I have! Plenty! But, …. She's just….."

Hidan didn't know what was wrong with him. He had been with plenty of women to know what they look like without clothes on. But thinking about Suzume like that made him question his actions. He let out another deep sigh as he contemplated what to do.

"Very well. I guess I shall have to sent for some company to help."

Ryuu saw the confused and questioning look Hidan was giving him and continued.

"There are some in nearby towns and villages that were still curious about us. They are not true followers, but they help out when I need them."

Ryuu excused himself back into the other room.

"If I recall correctly you are somewhat of a bounty hunter, no?"

Kakuzu did not answer. He only stared at the old man in front of him.

"Well if that's the case the village to the west of here is said to harbor someone in one of those bingo books you all seem to carry. If you're interested."

Kakuzu said nothing as he watched the old man walk past him and back out the main door they came in. As soon as he could no longer feel his presents he lifted himself to his feet and called to his partner.

"Hidan! I'm off to go get some money. Don't do anything stupid."

Hidan looked over to give Kakuzu a piece of his mind when he saw that he was already out the door. He made a mental note to piss Kakuzu off later as he waited for Ryuu to return.

* * *

Hidan heard the sound of footsteps approaching the small home. He opened his eyes and lifted his head from the top of Suzume's to see Ryuu come through the doorway along with four young women. They all wore the same shade of light blue kimono and, standing behind Ryuu, had their heads slightly bowed.

"Hidan, meet Aikoi, Fumiko, Hana, and Haia. They will be taking care of Suzume until she recovers."

Hidan gave a small bow with his head as the women approached him. He carefully handed Suzume over as they each took an arm or leg and carried her to the bathroom. Hidan stood and watched them close the door.

"Hidan. Why don't I make us some of that tea I was talking about earlier? It seems like we have a lot to talk about."

Hidan began to walk over to Ryuu as they entered the tea room. With one last glance he closed the door and sat down with Ryuu.


	26. Chapter 26

"She must be very special for you to put that necklace on her, how did you two meet?"

Hidan stiffened as Ryuu asked his question on his and Suzume's relationship. He finished the tea that was in his cup before speaking.

"It's kind of a long and complicated story, Lord Ryuu."

Ryuu let out a small chuckle at Hidan's answer.

"I don't think we have to worry about time Hidan."

* * *

Hidan explained everything. From him and Kakuzu kidnapping her to how they ended up at the gates of their old village.

"But you never told her about what happened to the village?"

Hidan paused and let out a sigh.

"No. I involved her in this mess and didn't even tell her what it was about."

Ryuu watched Hidan's eye drop to the ground. He saw the heavy guilt that Hidan had been carrying all this time.

"Well I think we both know how to remedy that."

Ryuu talked in a light voice, almost as if speaking to a child who had been scolded.

The sound of a sliding door caught the attention of the two men. As they turned their heads they saw the four women exit the room. They lined up and Fumiko stepped forward. She was a small built woman with large blue eyes and wavy light blond hair that fell just blow her shoulders. She bowed her head to Hidan and Ryuu.

"We have finished bathing and dressing the lady. If that is all you need we will be taking our leave now Lord Ryuu."

Ryuu stood up and slightly bowed his head to the women.

"Yes, that will be all. Thank you."

The three women behind Fumiko turned in unison walking towards the door.

"Your welcome. If there is anything more you need please do not hesitate to call on us."

With her parting words Fumiko turned and left with the other three.

Ryuu watched the group leave before turning his attention back to Hidan. He was staring at the slightly open door leading to the guest room, a look of worry now covered his face.

"You should go change Hidan. The bath is probably still hot and you need some new clothes, those are too blood-stained even for my liking."

Hidan looked at Ryuu with a bit of confusion before looking down at his akatsuki uniform. It was indeed covered to wear he could no longer distinguish the red from the printed clouds from blood. His bare chest was also a mess and his talismen needed to also be cleaned.

"Yeah. I guess you're right."

Hidan rose from his seat and walked into the spare room. There he saw Suzume nicely tucked into a futon on the floor. Her long hair tucked neatly behind her head, the top of the black kimono was barely visible from the top of the thick comforter. Her face was tracquil as she slept, Hidan could see the cover gently move up and down with her even breaths. It brought some calm to his mind knowing she was ok at least for now. Hidan tiptoed around her until he reached the back wall. Slowly, he opened the bottom drawer on the dresser and found a matching black male kimono for himself.

* * *

Ryuu had been right about the water. It was still steaming when Hidan entered the next room. After washing off the blood on his body Hidan lowered himself into the hot tub. It was a simple wooden oval design that was just big enough for him to stretch out his legs. Hidan leaned his head back against the smooth grain and closed his eyes.

A faint light threw itself over Hidan's eyes not long after he had closed them. Hidan brought his hand up to block it and, looking out the small window just above him, saw that the sun was finally setting on this long day. With a sigh he lifted himself from the tub and grabbed a towel from the rack. Walking out of the bathroom he made the final knot in his kimono and decided to settle in early. He searched around the room until he found the other futon and comforter and made his bed next to Suzume. Settling into bed he turned one more time to Suzume. Seeing that she still had the placid expression Hidan turned onto his back and shut his eyes. Letting sleep take him into a world of dreams.

* * *

Ryuu made himself a small dessert plate and one more cup of tea before moving the small table and laying out his own futon. Before climbing in he crept over to the sliding door and carefully opened it just enough to see in. He saw both Hidan and Suzume side by side sleeping comfortably. Hidan's face slightly tilted towards Suzume as if to watch her sleep. He was surprised that Hidan had not opted to join Suzume on her futon. It was big enough to comfortably fit two people. He mulled it over in his mind before a small smile came to his face. Ryuu wondered if Hidan even knew how much he cared for Suzume.


	27. Chapter 27

A small flicker of light danced across Suzume's face. She squinted her eyes to try and close it out to no avail. Trying to turn her head away from the persistent force she found that her body was stiff and ridged. She was only able to move her face about two inches, just enough for her eyes to no longer be caught in the blinding light, and slowly opened her eyes. It took a few seconds for her vision to clear and for her to take in her surroundings. The first thing she saw was a blurry tan cloud that slowly morphed into a comforter with a head.

She saw Hidan's face a foot away from hers. His head being just high enough to escape the burning light of the sun for another few minutes. His presence was an instant relief to Suzume. She looked around the room seeing that it was small and simplistic. The last thing she had remembered was finishing her first ritual then blacking out. She guested Hidan and Kakuzu had found shelter in a small inn somewhere. Blinking a few more times Suzume tried to sit up, only finding that her body would not respond to her commands. Every attempt she made was met with stiffness and unwilling muscles.

The faint sound of struggling caught Hidan's attention. He took in a deep breath before opening his eyes. It took a minute for Hidan to register the light brown eyes staring back at him. His breathing caught as a smile smile appeared on Suzume's face.

"Hey."

Hidan almost couldn't believe his eyes. Ryuu had said he didn't know how long it would take for Suzume to wake up. Maybe it would be a few days all the way up to a month. But neither one of them expected her to wake up the next morning.

"Hey."

Hidan uncovered himself and scooted over to Suzume.

"How are you feeling? Does anything hurt?"

Suzume shifted a little still trying again to regain some movement. Finding that nothing had changed she tilted her head to look back at Hidan.

"I can't really move. Nothing hurts but my body is stiff. Hidan, what happened?"

Hidan furrowed his brows at her words. This had never happened to him after any ritual, and he hadn't really heard of anyone else experiencing anything like this either. Before he could try to explain the sliding door opens to reveal a smiling Ryuu.

"I see you woke up earlier than we expected. Why don't both of you come in this room and we can have breakfast. Forgive me for eavesdropping, but Hidan if your bride is in that state then you should carry her in here like you had her yesterday. While we eat we can also talk about your situation."

With that Ryuu disappeared back behind the screen door leaving the smell of fresh food making its way into the small room.

Hidan and Suzume slowly turned their gazes back to each other. Hidan had a faint blush while Suzume's cheeks were almost glowing at how embarrassed she was.

'Bride? I don't remember him saying anything about being a bride? And who was that old man? How does he know my situation? How does he know Hidan? Is he another follower?'

"Hidan… why did he just call me a bride?"

Hidan looked at the floor in front on him. With a deep sigh he ran his hand through his hair and looked back at Suzume.

"After breakfast, I'll explain everything. Okay?"

"...Okay."

Hidan gently scooped Suzume up into his arms and carried her into the other room where Ryuu was sitting tending to the tea pot on a small hot top. There was already three plates set on the table, two on one side and one in front of Ryuu on the other. On them was a portion of eggs, bacon, and some small steamed vegetables. Hidan maneuvered himself down onto the pillow cushion on the floor with Suzume still in his arms, then repositioned her to sit between his legs with her back leaning against his chest for support.

Suzume let herself lean against Hidan. She felt the warmth of his body, the rising and falling of his breaths, the protection of his arms as he reached out to the teacups as Ryuu poured tea into both of them. She wondered if her paralysis could last just a little bit longer so that maybe they could do this for lunch also. She watched as Ryuu set the teapot back down and then turn toward her.

"So,miss Suzume was it? I believe you have some questions that you would want answered."

Hidan set the teacups in front of them and began to cut the food into small pieces. Suzume didn't know how to respond. She had so many questions spinning around in her head that she didn't even know where to start. She thought it would be best if she found out what this man knew.

"What am I?"

Ryuu took a moment of pause, as if trying to get all his words in the correct order before answering her.

"I believe you are now, more of less, shinigami."

Suzume took a moment to process his words.

"So what does that mean?"

"It means that you are basically a grim reaper, when you go into your ritual form of course. But the most interesting thing is that your form is perfect, unlike Hidans. I'm not sure why, but I guess that your perfect form came about because you killed another immortal."

"Ichiro?"

"Correct."

Suzume looked down at the table in front of her and furrowed her brows. Nothing still made sense to her. She went over everything that had happened to her over the past half a year. She had been kidnapped, abandoned by her village, got a weird necklace placed on her, let go, banished by her village, joined the akatsuki, and killed an immortal. Going over the events she felt like this was more of a crazy dream then her reality. She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath in frustration.

"I believe Hidan will fill you in more in private, but the basic facts are that you are an immortal, connected with Hidan with that necklace, and now one of the two true followers of Jashin."

Suzume lifted her eyes to meet Ryuus once more.

"So.. Your not a follower?"

Suzume's face held confusion.

'If Hidan and I are the only two followers then how does he know so much?'

"No sweetheart I am a follower, just not a true one. I have never done a ritual. Therefore, I am not an immortal."

"Oh. That makes sense….kind of. I'm still learning quite a bit of new information."

"That's quite all right dear. You've had to overcome a lot these past few days."

Ryuu let a smile come to his face. Suzume was taking this much better than he had expected.

Hidan felt Suzume relax in his arms and let a small sigh of relief escape him. He picked up a small portion of egg and brought it to Suzume's lip.

Suzume looked over to the food on the fork and gladly accepted it. She was delighted to find it delicious and let a small smile come to her face. She couldn't remember the last time she had had a home cooked meal.

Ryuu chuckled seeing how Suzume enjoyed his cooking.

"I will have the girls come over and massage your muscles. Hopefully it will help them relax and get you back to normal."

"The girls?"

"Oh, excuse me I forgot to mention them. They are more followers of Jashin. They took care of you while you were asleep."

"Oh. I shall have to thank them then."

The three sat in the main room and continued to eat together. Ryuu would make small conversation with Suzume and sometimes Hidan. He asked about Suzume's favorite things and foods trying to get an idea of what he would make for dinner. He also told stories from Hidan's childhood and how much trouble he would get into.

Suzume was sowley warming up to Ryuu. She could feel that he was a genuinely kind person. For the first time in a long time she felt like she had something of a family again.

Hidan also felt happier than he had in a long time. He had pushed his childhood into a dark corner of his mind. But, having Ryuu bring up all the good times they had shared and all the times that Ryuu had gotten him out of trouble was a blast for him. He couldn't remember the last time he had laughed like this. He felt as though everything was right. He was finally starting to make up for putting Suzume into this situation. And he couldn't be happier with her right in his arms.


	28. Chapter 28

The trio finished up breakfast and Ryuu cleaned up the table and plates.

"Thank you Lord Ryuu. It was nice to have a home cooked meal again. Hidan is a bit of an eat out kind of person."

Both Suzume and Ryuu let out a small laugh at Hidan's expense.

"Fine. Next time I'll skip on getting you anything when I go into town."

"Haha you couldn't do that to me."

Suzume wished she could turn her head around to see Hidan's expression. He always had the most interesting faces when he was teased.

Ryuu finished setting the dishes in a wash basin and started to head towards the door.

"I'm going to take my leave to go retrieve the girls for you miss Suzume. I'll be back in a while."

"Okay. Thank you again."

Hidan and Ryuu exchanged a glance before he shut the door. Hidan knew it was time to fill Suzume in on everything.

* * *

Suzume sat, still within Hidan's arms and contemplated all of what Hidan had said to her. The story of his mother, the necklace, the boy that had been murdered by his father, the plot of revenge by Ichiro. She went over it again in her mind.

* * *

"He thought that his younger brothers death was because of my father, I'm not quite sure why. For two years he waited and planned his revenge. He went into the next village over, started telling them that we were running out of bandits and assassins to kill and that we were planning on taking them next. He got a mob of them and they attacked us in the night when everyone was sleeping. They set fires everywhere and dismembered any followers they could find and buried them deep underground. My family was at the main building when they came for us. My father tried to stop them, told me to go upstairs and run away with my mother, but there was no escape. She shut me in a secret place in the walls. There was a crack in the wall that I could see through. I saw her turn and send up a prayer to Lord Jasin before they burst in. They took her in a fit of rage and fire. I saw them drag her away kicking and screaming. I found out later that the mob burned my father and mother alive at the stakes in the clearing were we fought Ichiro and Rin. I believe Lord Jashin took their lives, I think it was the only act of kindness he had ever done. Ichiro took my mothers necklace off her corpse and kept it as a war prize. I didn't know that Rin had also gotten away. I guess she had run away from home after an argument with her parents, she had done it before. I don't know how or why she joined Ichiro after the attack. And Lord Ryuu had always lived here, but I didn't think he would be spared so I never looked for him."

"What was Rin talking about when she said you were meant to be hers?"

"We were never really together. I ran around with a few of the village girls when I was young. We were kids when my father made the arrangement. She was Ryuu granddaughter and Lord Ryuu was my father's right hand man. It seemed only natural."

Suzume felt Hidan shrug his shoulders as he talked about Rin. She wondered if he had ever had feelings for her.

* * *

"I'm sorry Hidan."

It was the only thing Suzume could think of to say.

"Don't be. I've put you through worst over these past months."

Suzume mulled over his words. It was true that he had taken her away from the only other life she had known. She reluctantly thought back to her old village. All the times she had laughed and cried there, the friends she had made and the people she had lost. But, in a way he had also revealed that she was someone who was not wanted or needed by the village or its people.

"Hidan?"

"Yeah."

"There's still one thing I don't understand."

Hidan tilted his head to the side.

"What's that?"

"How did you know to follow me back to my village? How did you know I would need saving?"

Hidan tried not to stiffen his body as he felt his heart skip a beat. He had wanted to not bring up his plan on getting her into the akatsuki. Hidan sighed already knowing that he had lost the battle to tell the truth or not. Suzume was too smart of a ninja.

Suzume felt Hidan try to hide his stiffening body. It was no use considering she was laying against him. Feeling him let out a sigh she waited for his answer.

"Another akatsuki member, Sasori, has a mole in the sand. He gave me intel that they had told everyone that you were a traitor. And that they would try to kill you and bring your body back to the elders of the village. Our leader said that you had too much intel to let that happen, so I let you go and saved you as a way to get you to join the akatsuki."

"So what now?"

Hidan looked down at the top of Suzume's head.

"What do you mean?"

"What's gonna happen when we go back to the base?"

Hidan didn't have an answer. The only information he had been given was that Suzume was now on their team and they still had at least another year and a half to find the locations of all the jinchuuriki.

"I don't know."

Hidan let his head drop till it was resting on top of Suzumes. He was finally starting to feel good about the situation then this is thrown at him. He thought back to the meeting he had had with the other members, explaining the necklace and what he had done. He remembered Deidara's words. A new wave of anger rushed over him, he wrapped his arms around Suzume and pulled her close.

"I don't know what's gonna happen when we go back. But I can tell you that no one's gonna lay so much as a fucking finger on you. You can count on that."

Suzume let a small smile come to her lips. She found it cute when Hidan cursed when he was mad or upset. It was like a child who makes a mad face when you say they can't have something. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the warmth and security or Hidan's arms around her.

"So where did Kakuzu go?"

"He went off on some bounty close by."

Suzume let out a small laugh.

"That's Kakuzu alright."

The sound of footsteps outside caught Hidan and Suzume's attention. Hidan shifted to turn towards the door as Suzume opened her eyes to see Ryuu followed by four women. After a brief introduction the women took Suzume from Hidan and began massaging her stiff muscles. With every pass Suzume felt more feeling return to her. Ryuu took Hidan off to the side.

"So how did it go?"

"Better than I thought it would."

* * *

"Lord Ryuu told me what you all did. Thank you all for taking care of me."

"It wasn't anything Lady Suzume, we are happy to serve you."

Suzume felt a blush come to her cheeks. She wasn't use to having so much attention or being treated so gingerly.

'This is how royalty must feel'

Slowly, Suzume gained all feeling back within her body. She slowly stood up with some help from the women to gain back her legs. She related it to the first time she learned to walk on water, making small adjustments until she regained her natural ability. She was still slightly stiff, but could move on her own. She walked around the corner to where Ryuu had pulled off Hidan. As he saw her his eyes lit up with happiness. Ryuu simply gave a small nod as a smile came to his face.

Ryuu invited the women to stay for lunch and they did. Suzume used this time to get to know them better and to hear more stories about how Ryuu had gotten Hidan out of trouble when he was a child, much to Hidan's dismay. After lunch the women left and Hidan and Suzume helped Ryuu with his household chores for the day. They had a simple dinner before Suzume and Hidan bid their good nights to Ryuu and settled back down into their separate beds. Hidan was looking forward to a late night talk, but the strain of the day had taken it out of Suzume. As soon as she had gotten comfortable she had entered into her world of dream. Hidan smiled at her sleeping form and also let the darkness take him.

* * *

A loud banging jolted Suzume and Hidan out of their sleep. Both Hidan and Suzume rose to a crouched position as they heard two more loud knocks from the main room. Hidan rose to his feet and put his hand out to Suzume as if to block her way.

"I'll go check it out. You stay here."

Suzume noded and faced back to the thin door that seperated the rooms.

As Hidan inched his way to the door a loud voice came through.

"Hidan! Get your ass out this door right now!"

Both Suzume and Hidan relaxed as Ryuu slid open the door with a more than annoyed look on his face.

"It would appear that your friend has returned from his bounty Hidan."

Hidan, slightly embarrassed, nodded and passed Ryuu heading to the door.

Ryuu turned towards Suzume with a slight nod and a brief good morning before turning away and heading back to his own bed.

Suzume chuckled as she mumbled a small good morning to herself rather than to Ryuu.

As Hidan opened the door he was faced with a unusually more pissed off Kakuzu than normal. Hidan thought it was strange that he could also be in such a mood even after a bounty.

"What the fuck is your problem Kakuzu! Were trying to sleep. You could have at least waited till noon."

"Is she awake yet?"

"Oi! Don't change the fucking subject. I'm looking for an apology!"

"Hidan, you dumbass. Is. She. Awake!"

"Yes she's awake! What the fuck is your problem?!"

Kakuzu reached into his pocket and pulled out a new updated bingo book. He opened it to a bookmarked page and showed it to Hidan.

"This is the fucking problem."


	29. Chapter 29

Hidan's eyes widened as he saw Suzume's ninja picture and information listed in the bingo book. He took the book from Kakuzu and began to look over the details. Kakuzu, not wanting to wait for Hidan, gave him the basic information.

"She has a medium bounty on her head Hidan, and it doubles if she's brought back alive. She's only listed as a A rank even though it says she's rumored to be with us. There are gonna be a lot of people looking for her. Certain groups might even band together and split the bounty to get her."

Hidan looked the information in the book as a wave of anger and frustration washed over him.

"She is with us. She'll be fine."

"Hidan, how many people do you think the two of us can handle? Even with you, Suzume, me, my elementals and our shadow clones how many people do you think we can fight? All it takes is one person to take her and the rest to keep us distracted."

"How many fucking people do you think are gonna come after her Kakuzu? She's not even worth as much as other A ranks in here."

"Because she's almost the only person in there that's wanted alive. And she's a female. There are disgusting people in the world Hidan. They don't care."

Hidan gritted his teeth, he couldn't stop the twisted thoughts that came with Kakuzu's words.

Suzume leaned against the inside of the door listening on Hidan and Kakuzu's conversation. It didn't surprise her that she was in a bingo book, she knew the elders would never be satisfied until she was dead at their feet.

"Her training needs to be more intense Hidan. No more pulling punches or going through the motions when I ask you to spare with her. If she gets kidnapped from us it's gonna cause a whole lot of shit that I don't wanna deal with."

Hidan took a deep breath, knowing Kakuzu was right. The sound of the door caught Hidan's attention. As Suzume stepped out she looked up at Kakuzu.

"So when do we start?"

* * *

Kakuzu brought Suzume to a clearing not too far from Ryuu's home. They both took up spots on either end with Hidan taking a seat at the edge of the tree line near Suzume.

"So what are we working on today Kakuzu?"

Suzume let a small grin come to her face as she took up a fighting stance. She felt amazing, her body felt like it was lighter than air. She was ready for whatever Kakuzu could throw at her.

"Multiple opponents."

That was the only thing Kakuzu said before he took off his cloak and mask.

Suzume was awestruck at the endless lines of stitching that covered his body. She had never seen someone covered in anything like it before.

Kakuzu took a moment to gather his chakra before releasing the masks that were buried in his back.

Suzume's face turned to horror as four dark figures sprang from Kakuzu's back. She stepped back and watched as each morphed into a tall disproportioned figure with a mask as a face. She looked back at Kakuzu's body only to see his arms had doubled in length and his mouth hanging open thanks to his stitching coming out of their seams. Suzume thought about her options for a moment before throwing her arms up in the air.

"Nope. I concede."

Kakuzu let a chuckle escape him as he looked at Suzume.

"You don't get to concede."

Suzume made an annoyed face as she looked at the monsters before her.

"Fuck."

* * *

Suzume took the few short moments she had to catch her breath, breathing heavily she looked around the forest she had been backed into. Crouched on a high tree branch she had a good view of her surroundings and scanned the area again, waiting for the attack to continue. A noise from her right caught her attention as one of the masked creatures sprung out from the foliage of the tree.

It launched a fireball attack causing Suzume to spring back into the air. The fireballs destroying the branch she had just been on. She didn't have a second to recover as one of the other elementals stepped out from behind her on the ground and launched its own wind attack. Suzume twisted in the air and managed to miss the huge chunks of wind that came at her, but the force of the massive air currents had thrown her off as she tried to twist around to regain her landing. She came at the ground at an awkward angel and rolled to avoid injury. She felt her body begin to get heavy from all of the dodging and running she had been doing, it was almost like her muscles were contracting back to when she couldn't move. Her head was racing with plans on how to defeat her new opponents. She had tried everything from hand to hand combat to using jutsu and nothing seemed to faze them. And what was pissing her off more was that she couldn't even lay a finger on Kakuzu.

* * *

Kakuzu stood in the clearing with his arms crossed. He had done back up his stitching and put back on his uniform long ago, it was clear that Suzume was not going to reach him. She had tried to get close to him at the start of the fight, but to no avail. He waited calmly for his elementals to flush her out of the trees.

Hidan was still sitting in the same spot by the treeline. His head was racing with thoughts of what was happening.

'What's taking so long? Is she okay? Kakuzu wouldn't do anything to hurt her. Should I have fought with her? She needs to learn our fighting styles too. Should I intervene?'

Hidan let out a huff of air as he tried to clear his mind.

'She needs to learn to fight on her own. What's gonna happen if people come after her when we can't be there?'

The sound of foliage rustling made Hidan turn his head to see Suzume burst out of the top of the tree line. The elementals close behind her.

Suzume rushed for Kakuzu. She was just about out of chakra and stamina, so this was her last ditch effort to put up a fight.

Kakuzu stood still watching Suzume beeline towards him as 3 of his elementals tailed her. She dodged their attacks from behind and pulled a kunai out of her robe sash. Kakuzu was slightly impressed that she has stashed something so quickly since waking up.

Suzume gritted her teeth as she closed in. She was almost within striking distance when she saw movement from her right side.

The last of the elementals had been waiting by Kakuzu for this very situation. It launched itself in Suzume's direction.

Suzume jumped, launching her kunai at Kakuzu who easily sidestepped it, before being tackled by the elemental and pinned to the ground. She struggled against it to no avail and finally gave up. She laid her head back on the grass in defeat as the elemental released her and walked back to Kakuzu. The other elemental walked passed her also returning to their master before being reabsorbed back into his body. She heard the sound of footsteps and looking up saw Kakuzu staring back down at her.

"We'll do the same thing tomorrow."

With that he turned, walking around Suzume, and continued back towards Ryuu home.

Suzume covered her eyes with her arms to block out the harsh sunlight.

'I have to try harder. I need to get this. I'm already on borrowed time. I can't rely on Kakuzu and Hidan to always be there.'

Suzume let out a deep breath as she heard another set of footsteps approach her. When the sound stopped she lifted one of her arms to see Hidan leaning over her, blocking the sun from her face and holding his hand down to her. She slowly sat herself up before grabbing Hidan's hand and being helped to her feet.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. My prides just hurt a little I guess."

Suzume started walking back towards the direction of Ryuu house with Hidan following in behind her. He let a small smile come to his face as they walked. Just happy to be in her company.

* * *

They entered Ryuu's home eager to takes baths and have dinner. Kakuzu had kept them out too long for lunch and they were both starving. Both Hidan and Suzume stopped and stared as they entered their shared room. On the floor was only one futon with a comforter and two fresh robes, the other one was mysteriously gone.

"Oh you all are back already."

Ryuu's voice made Hidan and Suzume turn to meet him.

"Hidan you really need to try to clean yourself better. There was still blood on you and I just couldn't have it sinking into the fabric of that futon so I took it out to be cleaned."

Hidan noted that Ryuu had the biggest smile on his face as he spoke. The total opposite of how someone would look if you almost ruined something of theirs.

"I hope you two don't mind sharing that one until the old on is clean."

Both Hidan and Suzume were quiet. Hidan noticed Suzume looking off to her side with a faint blush and decided to say something. But, as soon as he opened his mouth he was interrupted by Ryuu.

"Well if neither of you has any objections I'm off to go finish dinner. You both must be famished from staying out and training all day."

Ryuu then turned and walked into the other room to tend to the fire and some food items that were boiling in a pot. Smiling to himself about his master plan to push things along.

Hidan looked back to ask Suzume who had gone to retrieve her new robe. She glanced back at him with the blush still on her cheeks.

"I'm gonna run the bath and clean up. Just knock if I take too long."

Hidan nodded and watched Suzume disappear into the bathing room. He then turned back into the main room to finish Ryuu set up dinner while he waited for Suzume to finish.

* * *

"So where did Kakuzu go off to this time?"

Suzume was finishing her last sip of tea as she looked to Hidan for an answer.

"Don't know. Don't really care. He does what he wants."

Hidan closed his eyes and shrugged his shoulders as he finished up his last piece of fish.

The trio had all had an enjoyable dinner together. They had made small talk about Suzume's training and Ryuu and Hidan had given her some pointers on how to deal with multiple opponents with different chakra natures. After helping Ryuu clean up and do the dishes Suzume and Hidan excused themselves to bed. They both knew that Suzume had more training ahead of her in the morning.

As Hidan and Suzume entered the room they were again reminded of the one futon to share.

"I can always sleep somewhere else. I don't mind."

Suzume looked at Hidan as a pang of guilt hit her. She couldn't ask him to sleep on the floor or even camp outside.

"It'll be fine Hidan. It's big enough to fit both of us without a problem."

Suzume continued to look at the futon as she answered Hidan. He could tell something was off in her voice but didn't want to push her.

"Okay. I'm gonna wash up really quick then I'll come to bed."

Suzume watched as Hidan picked up his own new robe and make his way towards the back door to the bathroom. He paused at the door and looked back to Suzume showing off one of his grins.

"Keep the bed warm for me until I get back."

With that Suzume watched him disappear into the bathroom as she felt the blood rush to her cheeks. She made a mental note to kick Hidan's ass later for saying something like that.

'I should have made him sleep outside.'

* * *

Hidan gingerly stepped out of the bathroom after quickly washing himself. He saw Suzume already tucked into the futon and made his way over to join her. Trying to be as smooth as possible he lifted the cover of the futon and slid under in one continuous motion. He rolled on his side to watch Suzume for a minute before the weight of his eyelids became too much for him to bare. Letter her placid face be the last thing he saw before he fell asleep.


	30. Chapter 30

Rays of light danced on Suzume's face as the sun crept through the window. Still half asleep she rolled over finding something warm and curling up against it. She felt the mass shift, then she was enveloped with even more warmth.

Hidan was just coming out of his sleep when he felt something shift in front of him. He cracked opened his to see Suzume turn towards him and bury her head in his chest. Feeling her press into him he wrapped his arm around her and brought her even closer in his grip. Laying his head on top of hers he closed his eyes and took in her scent. He wished they could stay like this all morning.

Hidan took in a deep breath knowing he was already on borrowed time. Either Kakuzu or Ryuu would come knocking any second now and piss him off. As if on cue two knocks came from the front door. Hidan assumed the knocking belonged to Kakuzu but was in no rush to greet him. He opened his eyes and looked down at Suzume as she stirred in his arms.

"Mmmm….."

Suzume stretched her legs out as her brain registered the knocking at the door. She was hoping it was her brain playing a cruel trick on her, but she knew better. As she stretched she felt the warm objects around her loosen. She opened her eyes to a blurry vision of white and black. Blinking again she looked up and froze when she realized that she was nose to nose with Hidan. She blushed as she looked at his features so closely, from the way his hair was messy and a few strands had fallen on his face to his violet eyes staring only inches away at her. She felt incredible heat in her cheeks as her brain refused to function properly. She opened and closed her mouth several times hoping words would form and free her from her paralysis, but nothing ever came out.

Hidan smiled as he watched Suzume become even more flustered in his arms. He supposed he should stop tormenting her and opened his mouth to speak.

"I guess we should get up before Kakuzu starts bitching."

"Umm… Yeah. I guess we should."

Suzume looked away from Hidan, focusing her attention somewhere between them and the door leading into the main room. Hidan lifted his arm off of Suzume, simultaneously lifting the comforter at the same time. Suzume slid out of the cover before an idea came to her. She tucked her feet under her and turned back to Hidan who was in the process of uncovering himself.

"Hidan."

Suzume met Hidan's eyes as he turned to face her.

"Can you come here. I…. want to give you something."

Suzume broke eye contact looking a few inches in front of her as Hidan scooted closer to her. She saw him tuck his knees under him in a sitting position so that he was facing in front of her. Suzume took a deep breath before facing Hidan again. His face a few inches above hers. It was almost like how she had woken up, but also different. She found herself distracted from her plan as she took in Hidan's features once again. From the way the front of his hair fell into his face down to his violet eyes, the way he waited for her with his lips slightly parted, all the way down to his chin lining up with his strong jaw. She found herself at a loss of what to do next, trying not to get too caught up in the sight before her.

Hidan waited for what seemed like an eternity. He watched as her eyes slowly slightly larger as she looked at him. He had seen it before when they had shared their kiss. Hidan wandered in that was what Suzume was trying to give him. Hidan mulled it over in his mind for a second before testing his hypothesis.

"Suzume."

Suzume blinked out of her daze as she looked back to meet Hidan's gaze. She saw that he had closed the gap between them so that their noses were almost touching. She felt her breath stop as she came back to her senses. Suzume let out a small chuckle as a smile came to her face.

'You're a dangerous man Hidan.'

Hidan tilted his head in confusion as to why Suzume had let out a laugh.

"Hidan!"

A loud knock was accompanied by Kakuzu's screaming voice. Hidan closed his eyes and furrowed his brows at the annoyance that he was.

"I swear of Jashin one day I'm gonna kill him."

Suzume let out a laugh as she imagined Hidan and Kakuzu fighting, constantly getting more and more pissed off at how the other one would not die. She looked back at Hidan and saw this as her opportunity. She raised her left hand and cuffed Hidan on the back of his head.

Hidan reached back and grabbed his head where Suzume had hit him.

"Oi! What the hell was that for?"

Hidan reached out to grab Suzume as she jumped back from his grip and let out a burst of laughter.

"That was for your smart-ass comment last night."

"Huh?"

Hidan had a look of genuine confusion before he remembered the remark he had made. He watched Suzume walk to the sliding door as she made final adjustments to her robe before turning back to him.

"Come on Hidan. Kauzu's already mad. We've got training to do."


	31. Chapter 31

Six long months had passed since arriving at Ryuu's household. Suzume still had trouble with Kakuzu's multiple opponent training but was slowly getting the hang of it. She could now deal with three at once without much problem but still had not even gotten close to Kakuzu. She had also learned even more about Jashin from Ryuu from the time that they had been a guest in his house. He taught her the ins and outs of the social structure and politics that Hidan had never learned about. During this time she also grew curious about that second futon that Hidan had supposedly 'ruined'. She never asked about it though. The days were growing shorter and colder and she was happy for the source of extra warmth. Hidan was also enjoying waking up with Suzume in his arms, although he was now finding it hard to keep his hands from wandering.

* * *

Suzume felt the warmth of the sun on her back and slowly stirred out of her sleep. She felt Hidan's strong arms contract and extend to allow her to move freely. She snuggled closer to Hidan's chest hoping for just a few more minutes of comfort before having to go out into the cold to train. It was getting hard to keep up with the temperatures slowly dropping. She had also learned that her outfit Hidan had gotten her had been thrown away by Ryuu. He had said it was too bloodstained to be saved.

Hidan opened his eyes to see Suzume bring herself closer to his chest. It was almost like she was trying to merge their bodies into one. He felt his hand slip down her back and had to use almost all of his restraint to stop it at the small of her back. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he tried to control the rest of his body. It was becoming increasingly difficult for him to stop himself lately. He had been awake for only a few minutes, waiting for the inevitable knock from Kakuzu that would disturb their paradise. But, as he waited, it never came.

After waiting a few more minutes Hidan soon found himself tilting his head towards the door as the smell of food entered into the room. Suzume stirred in his arms and lifted her head as she too smelled the delicious sent. Hidan was racking his brain as to why Kakuzu had not come to fetch them. As both he and Suzume stretched he wondered if Ryuu knew something.

* * *

Hidan looked at the note that Kakuzu slipped under the front door. Suzume looked over at Hidan from the table after she had finished a mouth full of eggs.

"What does it say?"

"Kakuzu sys there was an unexpected bounty that popped up near a village off to the west. It may take him a week or two to take it down. He said for you to oversee your own training with shadow clones and me."

"That would come up wouldn't it."

Suzume turned away and stuck another fork full of food in her mouth, enjoying not being rushed for once in the past six months.

"Oh. Suzume. I have been meaning to ask you something."

Suzume took a sip of her tea and looked over at Ryuu waiting for his question.

"You have been with me some time now and I would feel horrible if we had passed your birthday without celebrating it. Tell me, when is it so I can prepare something for you."

Suzume starred at Ryuu for a second before putting her teacup down.

Hidan rejoined the two at the table and waited for Suzume to speak, eager to know as much as Ryuu.

"Well… It's complicated. You see.. I was found by the Kazekage when I was a baby. They could only guess my age then, so I don't really have an actual 'birthdate' so to speak. We always celebrated it with the youngest of the Kazekage children since we were close in age. I guess I should be around 16 or 17 now."

Both Hidan and Ryuu looked at Suzume, wondering how to deal with the situation.

Ryuu closed his eyes and furrowed his brows.

"Hmmmm. Well I guess we'll just have to throw you a surprise party then."

Suzume's jaw dropped as she and Hidan looked at Ryuu. No one had ever done a surprise party for her. She let a smile come to her face as she felt like a child again, excited for the surprise.

* * *

"Hidan why don't you go into town and get Suzume a new set of clothes for the winter months. I highly doubt she's accustomed to the weather difference outside of the sand."

"Sure Lord Ryuu."

Hidan finished setting the table for lunch as he looked out the back door at Suzume. She was collecting some firewood for the stove so Ryuu could bake something for lunch. They had decided that today would be a good day to take a break from training much to Suzume's delight.

"Should I look for something for you to get her as well Lord Ryuu?"

"No no. I have something special in mind when the weather clears a little more."

Hidan tilted his head as a slight confusion came over him at Ryuu's words.

'What could he be planning?'

* * *

Three days had passed since Ryuu had mentioned the surprise party. Suzume had gone back to training both on her own and with Hidan's help. She would use her shadow clones to replicate Kakuzu's elementals and multiple opponents and Hidan would critic her. Half way through they would always go back to have lunch with Ryuu and cool down before going back for an afternoon session.

"Suzume dear, could you please go get some more wood from the pile out back please."

Suzume looked up from the plates she had been setting and nodded at Ryuu. She turned walked towards the back of the house and pulled the door open to go into the backyard.

"Hidan. Come here."

Ryuu's voice was in a whisper as he beckoned Hidna over to him. Ryuu glanced back at Suzume to make sure she was still outside before leaning close to Hidan. Hidan leaned down as Ryuu began to speak into his ear in a hush voice.

"Today is the day I plan on making Suzume's cake and throwing her a party when you come back from training. Give me the close you got her in town and I can hide them for you until you want to give them to her."

Hidan's cheeks went red as he remembered he had not yet gotten her her new clothes.

"Ummmm.. well. you see.. Lord Ryuu…."

Ryuu moved away from Hidan and looked at him with a disapproving scowl.

"Hidan if you tell me you have not gotten your bride new clothes so she can be comfortable I might just have to tell her not to marry you."

"I was gonna do it I swear! I just got a little tied up in helping her train. I can run into town really quick and find something."

"No! No! Hidan, you have to keep her out of the house while I finish baking her cake. I'll run to the nearest trader stop and see what I can get, but you should be more mindful of her Hidan. You chose her to carry on your legacy and need to treat her with as much respect as your father did your mother."

Hidan opened his mouth to defend himself but could not think of anything. He looked down and hung his head at Ryuu's words. Ryuu took in a deep breath before looking back over his shoulder, Suzume was still splitting some wood into smaller pieces so it would fit into the stove.

"Hidan look, I know that you are both still new to each other and that this probably wasn't the outcome that either of you expected. But, it's clear that you both have feelings for each other. Even if you two haven't admitted it yet."

Hidan lifted his head to see a small smile as Ryuu looked at him. He also let a smile come to his lips and nodded.

"I promise to do better Lord Ryuu."

"Good."

* * *

"Happy Birthday Lady Suzume!"

Suzume couldn't stop smiling as she looked at Ryuu holding her birthday cake. It was a small circular cake with white frosting on top and 'Happy Birthday' written in blue icing. She turned back to Hidan who was in the doorway they had come in. She saw him smiling down at her, his violet eyes meeting her brown ones.

"Happy Birthday."

As they all sat down Ryuu pulled out a medium sized bag and handed it to Suzume.

"You didn't have to get me anything. Planning the party was enough on its own."

"Oh don't worry dear this is from Hidan not me."

Suzume opened the bag to find a new set of clothes to her delight. She pulled out a dark plum colored V neck long sleeve shirt that had buckles between the elbow and shoulder and the elbow and wrist. She looked at the slit of the V and thought about putting a fishnet layer under it. Next, she pulled out black pants that came down to her mid calf. She was excited to see it came with extra cargo pockets for hiding kunai or keeping scrolls. Finally she pulled out a pair of slightly heeled ninja shoes to complete her outfit. Suzume looked back at Hidan with a wide smile.

"Thank you. I love it."

"..Your welcome."

Hidan let a small smile out as he took Suzume's complement. He was slightly ashamed that he didn't actually get her anything. He took a deep breath as he thought about how he would make it up to him.

'You got me out of yet another situation Lord Ryuu. I don't know where I would be without you.'

* * *

After the trio had eaten the cake and cleaned up Ryuu spoke.

"Hidan, you remember the nice hot spring a little ways up the road at the base of the mountain don't you? It would be a fine idea to take Suzume up there and let her relax her muscles for a while don't you think?"

"Umm.. sure if you wanted I can show you."

Hidan looked over at Suzume who seemed delighted with the idea of a relaxing hot spring.

"Yeah I would like that a lot."

* * *

Suzume and Hidan walked quietly up to the hot springs. Both thinking of conversations to have but neither actually saying anything. Suzume looked over at Hidan who was busy keeping his eyes in front following the path Ryuu had sent them on.

"Thank you again for my clothes. I can't wait to try them out tomorrow."

Suzume had opted to say in her robe for one more night since it would be easier to get in and out of. She had also put her hair up to not get a cold on the way back to Ryuu's home.

Hidan moved his eyes away from the path looking into the forest and away from Suzume. He let out a deep breath as he still felt her eyes on him.

"I didn't actually get you those. Lord Ryuu went to a trading spot and got them for you. I guess you could say I really didn't get you anything."

"Well….. I guess we can just leave it as an IOU then. It just means you owe me one favor."

Suzume closed her eyes and smiled as Hidan turned back to her with a grin of his own.

"Is that so huh?"

"Yep!"

They both had a small laugh about their exchange before noticing that they had made it to the hot spring. It was a moderately sized spring with numerous rocks rising above the surface. The colors of the sunset plated on the water giving it a beautiful glow. Suzume took a minute to take in its beauty before Hidan spoke.

"So, I guess ladys first then I'll slide in behind you."

Suzume looked at Hidan, his face having one of his trademark smirks.

"Wh- What?"

Suzume was flustered by what he meant by getting in first.

'Were not just going to have opposite ends of the spring?'

"Haha don't worry I'll turn around until your all the way in."

With that Hidan turned his back to Suzume and waited.

Suzume stood watching Hidan for a few seconds before scooting close to the trees. Slowly, she also turned her back to Hidan and undid her robe. She looked back at Hidan once more to make sure he was not peeking before letting the fabric slip off her body and, after hanging it on a tree branch, slipped into the warm water.

Hearing the sound of water splashing Hidan began to move along the treeline as well. Keeping his gaze to one side he found where Suzume had hung her robe and began unbuttoning his cloak. He glanced over his shoulder at Suzume who was now watching him. She was peeking out from behind a rock all the way up to her shoulders in the water.

"I may have not watched you but you can feel free to enjoy the show if you want. I already know how you feel about my body anyway."

Hidan flashed a smile in Suzume's direction before pulling his cloak off to one side, giving her a good angle to look at his torso. He saw a flash of red hit her cheeks before she spun herself behind the rock. Hidan gave a small chuckle to himself as he stripped of the rest of his closes and entered the water, making his way towards Suzume.


	32. Chapter 32

Suzume felt her heart race as she sound of movement through the water came closer to her. When the sound stopped she turned to see Hidan's torso down to his navel above the water just a few feet from her. She felt her cheeks heat up as she roamed up his body to meet Hidan's violet eyes. As she gazed at them she also noticed the setting sun had painted the sky its own shade of violet and purples, but it still paled in comparison.

Hidan looked at Suzume as she stared into his eyes before turning his gaze to the back of the spring. He started to walk passed Suzume and beconded her to follow.

Suzme let Hidan pass her, still walking with half his body out of the water, before following him. She was careful to keep her shoulders at water level at all times, she was still nervous about being around Hidan in a robe so being completely naked except for what the water could hide was keeping her on edge. She followed him to a large rock formation near the back of the spring. It had three large rocks facing the forest and two off to the side curving towards the mountain that was behind the spring. From a front facing view it almost looked like a crown.

Hidan took Suzume around the back of the formation and leaned against the back of the main rocks and beckoned her to join him.

Suzume was slightly confused by Hidan's actions but walked through the water to join him. She was shocked when her leg hit a ledge and, reaching down, she noticed that it was almost like a shelf protruding from the rocks. She realized that Hidan was not leaning on the rocks as she had thought, but that he was sitting on the shelf. Carefully, she maneuvered herself on the ledge, tucking her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, trying not to reveal too much skin.

Hidan watched Suzume adjust herself to face him. They were no more than three or four feet apart. He propped his elbow on the side of the rocks and leaned his head in his hand as he watched her. He saw her look at him with a faint blush in her cheeks before looking away into the water away from him.

"So... How are you planning on using that IOU?"

Suzume blinked and looked at Hidan.

"Ummm. I don't know.. I haven't really thought about it yet."

Hidan thought about her answer before giving one of his dangerous grins.

"I might have something you'd like. Come here."

Suzume stiffened as she was put on edge by Hidan's use of words. She saw the way his face was slightly tilted in a sly manner. He had that same dangerous look in his eyes that she had seen before. It was almost like a 'Come and get it at your own risk' type of look. It captivated her but, she still questioned what he was planning.

'Is he planning on hitting me like I did to him? Would he do that on my birthday?... Yes, yes he would…'

Suzume carefully scooted closer to Hidan until she was about a foot away from him.

"Okay. What did you wanna give me?"

Hidan leaned in close, taking his hand away from his face and putting it on the rock by Suzume's face.

"Close your eyes."

Suzume listened to Hidan's voice as he lowered it to a whisper. She felt a tingle go down her spine. She felt as though she was in a trance as her eyes began to close on their own.

"Okay."

She heard the sound of water moving and felt a hand on her cheek and fingers under her chin. She felt a hot air between her and Hidan before she felt a distantly familiar sensation on her lips.

Hidan let his lips linger on Suzume's for a few seconds before he pulled away from her. He saw her eyes open to look at him and saw that something had changed in them. She no longer looked as timid or nervous about being in the spring with him. He felt a hand grip his and looked to see Suzume's hand on top of his on her face. Looking back at Suzume he felt her hand leave his and reach up to his face. Also cupping his cheek and guiding him back to her lips.

Hidan felt something overtake him as his right hand slid back around Suzume's head and pulled her even closer to him. His other hand moved from the rocky formation down to Suzume's back, also pulling her closer to him.

Suzume felt her body coming out of the water but was to intoxicated by Hidan's kiss to care. She brought her other hand up and let it rest on Hidan's chest as she tilted her head to the side to get a better angle.

Hidan was the first to separate their lips. They both let out short pants, neither of them realizing how much air they had lost, as they were nose to nose. Hidan looked into Suzume's glazed over eyes and put his forehead against hers.

"Suzume…. Is this what you want?... Because if we continue, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to stop myself."

Suzume looked at Hidan. Into his violet eyes that she finally let herself get lost in. She felt his breathing and his heart pounding along with hers as they sat chest to chest. There was no longer a sense of timidness within her. All she wanted was to be close to the man in front of her, to never be out of his embrace.

"This is what I want."

Hearing her words Hidan let himself give in to his desire and crashed his lips back with Suzume's. He felt her hand rise from his face as fingers tangled themselves in his silver hair. Lowering his own hand that had been on Suzume's face he grabbed one of Suzume's breasts and gently squeezed it, massaging the smooth skin in his hand.

"Ah!"

Suzume pulled back in surprise, she had been too interested in Hidan's kiss to keep track of his hands.

Hidan saw the surprise in Suzume's eyes and gently pulled her back to him, reconnecting them in a kiss. He bit Suzume's lower lip asking for entry but, when her lips did not part he began moving his mouth along her neck. Gently kissing and sucking down her neck looking for her sweet spot. He felt a shudder under him as he kissed the base of her neck right above her collar bone and knew that he had found what he wanted. He continued to work on the one spot as he felt Suzume tremble under him. He heard her soft breathing mixed with small mouns next to his ear turning him on more. He moved his hand down again along Suzume's stomach until it came to rest between her legs. He could feel her trembling increase as he also felt how turned on she was by him.

Suzume wrapped both her hands around Hidan's neck as his hand roamed down her body. She couldn't stop the shaking as he began to move his hand back and forth. Letting his middle finger glide along her entrance and retracting in a rhythmic motion.

Hidan heard Suzume's breathing become sharper and more shallow. Even though half her body was still under the water he could feel how wet she was. Pressing his middle finger to her he slipped between her lips searching for a small bundle of nerves to drive her crazy. He felt a small buck from her hips as he ran his finger over it and immediately found it again. Moving his middle finger over it in small circles he listened to Suzume's moans as she tried to hide them from him.

Suzume felt her muscles tighten as Hidan played with her. She wrapped her arms around his head and tried to bury her face in his shoulder as involuntary noises escaped her.

"Ahh...Mmm…...Hmmm…..Hida...Ahh...mmmnn."

Her hips moved on their own as she gasped for air. Holding onto Hidan for was seemed like dear life.

Hearing Suzume say his name drove Hidan over the edge. He let his hand slide back to Suzume's entrance and began to push his finger in.

"Agh!"

Feeling Suzume raise herself up slightly he pulled his hand away and returned to stroking her, once again releasing her moans.

'Maybe I just got the angle wrong.'

After a few moments Hidan once again positioned his finger back at Suzume's entrance. Focusing a bit more he made sure to position it correctly before once again pushing inside of her.

"Agh. Hidan!"

Suzume reached down and grabbed Hidan's hand. She looked at him wondering why he was doing something that hurt. But when she looked into his eyes she saw nothing but confusion and shock.

"You're a virgin?!"

"Of course I'm a virgin! What did you think I was?"

Hidan opened his mouth to answer her but nothing came out. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before wrapping his arms around her and bringing her back to him.

"Look, we'll go slow okay? It'll be fine."

Hidan brought his face up to see Suzume's.

"But...Hidan..… It hurts."

Hidan watched as Suzume's face lowered and looked away from him. He felt her no longer shaking from excitement. But from fear. He brought her close to him again and kissed her forehead, hoping to calm her a little.

"Okay. But I think I can still do something you'd like."

Hidan cocked his head and flashed a grin at Suzume. She looked back at him with a small smile of her own.

"Okay."

Hidan gently guided Suzume to the far left side of the rock formation. Sitting back on the ledge he rested his back against the rocks and turned Suzume so that her back was facing him. He watched her look at him with confusion as to what he was doing while holding her breast in her arms since they were out of the water. He leaned down and grabbed Suzume's hip, lifting her slightly more out of the water and sat her down on his lap. He was amazed at how much of a difference water made, she felt as light as a feather. He wrapped his left arm around her stomach and guided her to lay her back against his chest. He looked down into her eyes and saw a mix of excitement and fear.

"Do you trust me?"

Suzume didn't have an answer for him. Her heart was racing with anticipation, excitement, fear, and her own lust. She gave Hidan a small nod before leaning her head back against his chest.

Hidan leaned his head against the top of Suzume's head. He leaned forward and reached his right arm down to Suzume's thigh. Feeling her tighten her legs together he slowly brought his hand down her to knee and gently pulled them apart. He placed her right leg on the outside of his right leg and did the same with her left leg. He slowly separated his legs, spreading Suzume's along with his. Hidan felt her back arch against him as a small shutter went down her spine.

Hidan felt the heat rising in his own body as she pressed against him. He slid his left hand up Suzume's body and, with a little coaxing, brought it under her arms to cup one of her breasts again.

Suzume opened her mouth as small moans escaped her. More noises escaped her as Hidan kneaded her breast in his hand. She closed her eyes as she lost herself in Hidan's touch.

Hidan felt Suzume once again tremble under him as he played with her. He brought his right hand down and rested it between her legs, once again using his middle finger to find her small bundle of nerves.

"Ahhhh!…. Hidan!"

Suzume threw her head back on Hidan's chest as she felt a wave of electricity run through her. She found herself barely able to breath as he continued to make small circles with his right hand. She reached her hand down and rested it on Hidan's right wrist as she felt something foreign building inside her.

Hidan felt Suzume's movements become more and more involuntary as he drew her closer to her release. He began to move his hand in quicker circles as he felt her legs strain against his. Her instincts telling her to close them but Hidan's own legs keeping them open to him.

Suzume no longer made noises. Instead, she had short pants as she felt whatever was building inside of her getting ready to be released.

Hidan quickened his pace one more time as he began to feel Suzume's whole body stiffen against him.

"Hidan…. Hidan! Ahh!"

Suzume opened her mouth in a silent scream as she felt the rush of pure ecstasy invade every inch of her body. Every muscle fiber tightened up as she felt herself convulse against Hidan.

Hidan tightened his grip as he felt Suzume cum. He felt her convulsions against him as he continued to stimulate her, letting her ride out her orgasm for as long as she could.

After a few seconds he felt her grab his hand as a sign for him to stop. He slowly brought his hand to a halt, letting it rub against her one last time causing her to jump before bringing it back up to her face. He turned her head to look up at him.

Suzume half way opened her eyes to look at Hidan. He had an accomplished smirk on his face as he looked down at her.

"So, did you like it?"

Suzume was still breathing heavily as she closed her eyes and let out a small chuckle. Hidan always had a way of making moments his own. She opened her eyes and looked right into Hidan's.

"Yes."

Hidan's smile widened as he brought his head down to Suzume's. Letting his lips lay on hers one more time.


	33. Chapter 33

Pain was disrupted by a knock on his office door. He put down the stack of papers he had been looking at and turned his face towards the door.

"Come in."

Sasori entered the room with a smirk on his face. His puppet eyes gleamed with a hint of excitement as he approached Pain's desk.

Pain couldn't help but raise his eyebrow at Sasori's expression. He looked down to see a tan folder with maybe 50 pages inside of it.

"Is that your jinchuuriki report?"

"No. It's possibly something even better."

Pain furrowed his brows as Sasori's smirk turned into a grin as he passed Pain the folder.

"I had my mole do a little digging on the outskirts of the Sand. In one of Orochimaru's old hideouts. It turns out he had his own jinchuuriki information. Along with more of his experiments."

Pain took the folder and opened it. Turning through the pages he saw line after line of experiment numbers, test calculations, random notes that made no sense to him, and at the far right hand side the same word written over and over again. He read the pages in his mind trying to see why Sasori had felt the need to show him this.

'Experiment 4, recalculated to reduce strain on cells, outcome - Failure. Experiment 27, recalculated for chakra absorption, outcome - Failure. Experiment 67, Parents repaired based on chakra natures to compensate for weaknesses, recalculated for genetic defect. Outcome - Failure.'

Pain let his eye begin to skim through the endless lines, only focusing on the outcomes. He flipped through page after page only to find the same thing, Failure, Failure, Failure. His hand finally came to the last page. He read the lines down until he stopped at the very last experiment in the middle of the page.

'Experiment 2409 - Success.'


	34. Chapter 34

Hidan opened his eyes and looked down at the figure beside him. She had her head on his chest and an arm across his body. His own arm was curved around her shoulders keeping her close. His fingers playing with the hair that freely floated in the water. He took a deep breath as he finally felt his body relax. It had been a struggle for him to regain his composure after what had conspired between the two only minutes ago.

Suzume opened her own eyes at Hidan's deep breath. She didn't know if she had slipped into sleep or if she had just let her eyes close and mind wander for a few minutes. The water still felt warm to her even though they had been in the spring for some time now. She tilted her head upwards and looked at the endless supply on stars above her. She wondered what time it was as she felt Hidan move against her. She looked up to meet his eyes as he smiled down at her.

"We should probably head back. It's starting to get late."

Suzume nodded in agreement. Although the thought of leaving the hotspring and walking back in the cold was not an inviting idea to her. She moved her hand back across Hidan's body, letting her fingers slide over his well toned torso one more time, before returning it to her side. She slid herself off of the ledge and sunk back shoulder deep into the water, stepping a few feet away then turning back to Hidan. She saw him staring at her in a way she hadn't seen before.

His eyes glazed over and looked at her as if she was some mythical creature. Like she was a mermaid that had appeared to him and if he moved she would disappear forever. His unblinking eyes only looking at her brown ones under the full moon.

Suzume averted her eyes as her cheeks heated up from his strong stare.

"Hidan…."

Hinan blinked, snapping himself out of his daze and began moving off of the rock shelf. Not caring about modesty he walked passed Suzume to the edge of the rock formation before turning back to her. The small of his back balrey hidden by the waterline.

She followed Hidan with her shoulders still near the water as they began to make their way out of the spring. Hidan stopped and turned back to her with a smile.

"You wanna go first?"

Suzume's cheeks flushed at the thought of Hidan watching her walk out of the water. She sunk a little lower in the spring and turned her head away from him.

"No. You go first and stay turned around. We'll just reverse the way we got in."

"Awww come on. That's no fun."

Suzume turned back to Hidan to find him with his classic smile on his face. His torso more exposed than ever as ever as he turned to face her. Suzume couldn't stop her eyes as they ran down his body stopping at the V like muscle just above the water line.

"Hidan!"

She covered her eyes with her hands as Hidan let out a burst of laughter.

"Hahaha. Okay. Okay. Fine."

With a sly grin Hidan began to walk out of the spring, slightly disappointed Suzume had seen through his plan.

Suzume watched Hidan as he became a shadow before leaving the spring. She could only make out the silhouette of his body as he reached the treeline and began to dress himself. When he stood still for a few moments Suzume took that as her que to come out. She stayed at shoulder level with the water as long as she could before finally standing up and walking out of the spring, praying Hidan wasn't looking. She was almost out of the spring when a rush of cold air cut through her body. Goosebumps instantly covered her skin as she lost all her senses except for the coldness around her. With a yelp she ran the rest of the way to the treeline and quickly put on her robe. She tied the knot and turned to see Hidan with his back to her. She was thankful that he had not peeked at her.

* * *

The wind was starting to pick up as the temperature continued to go down. Suzume clutched her arms around her trying to create another layer of warmth until got back to Ryuu's home. The walk back seemed to take twice as long due to the wintery conditions. She was surprised when she felt extra cloth being wrapped around her. She looked up to see Hidan had taken off his Akatsuki cloak and put it around her. Suzume clutched the new layer of protection tightly around her and welcomed the extra warmth it gave. The next thing she knew she was being picked up by Hidan and cradled against his chest. She looked at Hidan with shock on her face as to why he would begin to carry her. She was surprised to see Hidan not staring down at her, but looking straight ahead as he held her close to him. She saw the determination in his eyes and the way his jaw was set.

'Why does he look all serious now?'

Hidan held Suzume close to him, giving his chest some protection since he had given up his cloak. The bitter wind bit into his back as he continued to walk the dark path. It felt like a cut from a sword with each passing gust. He set his face to try and not show the discomfort he was feeling.

He hated to show weakness to anyone, and especially not the women he held in his arms. He was her protector. And he would do what it took to protect her from anything and everything.

Suzume looked at Hidan's face as the wind picked up even more. It blew strands of her hair out of their resting place and into her face. She brought her hand up to try and tame the lose hairs to no avail. Looking at Hidan she could tell that his teeth were gritted together and his hands squeezed around her more tightly with each passing blow.

They both felt a heavy force lift when they say the lights of Ryuu's small home come into view as they crested the last hill.

* * *

Hidan and Suzume walked through the threshold of the doors to their room. Hidan had let Suzume down at the front door of Ryuu's home in order to open the door inside. Suzume walked in first still clutching the material loosely wrapped around her. She turned to see Hidan closing the sliding door and letting a deep breath escape him.

Suzume looked at the figure in front of her. She looked at his pale skin a reminder of what they just endured. Pulling off the cloak she walked over and outstretched it in her hand.

"Thank you…. You didn't have to do that."

Hidan turned his head to look at Suzume. She noticed that even his vibrant eyes seemed to be a little more dull. He let a small smile appear on his lips as he took back his article of clothing.

"It wasn't anything."

Reaching out Hidan took his cloak from Suzume's hand. Brushing up against her hand he was surprised when he retracted his hand and she grabbed it, bringing both of her hands around it.

"Hidan your freezing."

Her voice was small as she brought their hands under her chin, trying to warm Hidan's hand up as quickly as possible.

Hidan looked down at Suzume as she cradled his hand. He fought himself not to embrace her, knowing it would only worry her more if she felt how cold his back still was.

"Come on. We should get to bed."

Hidan took one of Suzume's hands and walked her over to the futon on the floor. Kneeling down he pulled back to large comforter and looked at Suzume, waiting for her to slip under it. He watched as she undid her hair, letting it fall freely down around her face and shoulders. She made some adjustments to her robe before slipping under the cover. Hidan followed behind her extending his right arm onto the pillows for her to lay her head on, waiting for her to situate herself. When she did he wrapped his other arm around her waist and pulled himself close to her, letting his nose rest above her head breathing in her scent and pulling up the comforter around them.

Suzume laid there with Hidan for a few moments before an idea came to her. Wiggling under Hidan's grip she rotated herself halfway around so that she was now facing Hidan's chest. Hidan had loosened his grip to allow Suzume to move freely and lifted his head to make room for her. Scooting closer to Hidan's body, Suzume rested her left hand on his chest and brought the other hand under Hidan's arm and let it rest along his back. Trying to give him as much warmth as she could.

Hidan let his head rest back on top of Suzume's head. Thankful for the little bit of extra warmth she had given him.

"Goodnight Hidan."

Before he let his mind slip into the darkness he heard Suzume's soothing words. He pulled her closer to him, thankful for being topless so that he could feel more of her.

"Goodnight Suzume."


	35. Chapter 35

Suzume felt the warm rays of the sun beam through the window on her back. She was thankful it wasn't in her eyes as she stretched out her legs and cracked open her eyes. It took only a moment for them to adjust and for her to see the pale skin in front of her. She moved her body slightly closer to the sleeping form in front of her and, closing her eyes again, took in the sent of the other. She didn't know why, but this was the safest place she felt she could be. She felt as though no one could touch her as long as she stayed within this small circle of protection. Taking another deep breath she smiled and snuggled her face deeper into Hidan's chest, feeling his heartbeats against her cheek.

Hidan awoke to Suzume snuggling herself closer to him. He stretched his own body out and pulled Suzume in at her waist with his arm. He opened his eyes and looked down at her. Brown eyes meeting his own violet ones.

"Good moring."

Suzume looked up at Hidan, letting herself get lost in his perfect eyes. She smiled as she waited for his reply.

"Mm moring."

Hidan let a small smile play on his lips as he started to wake up. He couldn't help but let his mind wonder back to last night.

Suzume saw the change in Hidan's eyes. She noticed how they seemed to get another brightness within them. She wondered what he could have been thinking about before it finally came to her. A faint blush hit her cheeks as she recalled the events of last night. She let her eyes wonder back down to Hidan's chest, not wanting him to see her flustered. She didn't hide her face for long as she felt herself being dragged onto Hidan's chest. She looked down to see Hidan, now on his back with his arms still wrapped around her, sporting the biggest sly grin she had ever seen him wear.

"Wh..What are you doing?"

Hidan watched as Suzume's cheeks brightened with red color. He was pleasantly surprised when he felt her legs slide down either side of his hips and noticed that the slit in her robe was slightly open, revealing the tops of her breasts from a deep V cut. He wrapped his arms tighter around her waist bringing her hips closer to his as he felt himself becoming more excited.

Suzume put her hands on Hidan's chest to try and gain leverage to push herself off of him to no avail. She only felt the strength of the arms around her waist keeping her in place. She finally looked back into Hidan's eyes waiting for an answer to her question.

"I was just thinking about how I was the only one who got to have fun and play last night. I thought it was only fair to give you a turn now."

Suzume's eyes widened as he spoke. She didn't know what to think about his words. He had been her first experience with everything so far, she didn't know how to do anything that he would consider 'playing' or 'fun'.

Hidan saw the look of confusion and hesitation in Suzume's eyes. It only took him a second to come up with an idea to help her along. He let his right hand slip down to her left one and brought it up to his face.

"Like this. See?"

Hidan took her hand and pressed it against his cheek before slowly dragging it down over his neck and chest and finally stopping just above his naval.

Suzume watched as he dragged her hand down his body. She felt every muscle under her hand and found herself craving to touch him more. She felt him release her hand and bring his back to her hip, waiting for her to continue on her own. Slowly, she traced her right hand down Hidan's chest, letting her fingers spread out and rub every muscle they could reach. When her right hand came to a stop beside her left one she began to move them back up Hidan's chest in tandem. She let her eyes roam over his torso as she let her hands wander around it. One might be going down his muscular arm while the other was busy tracing out the lines of his abs. She slowly found herself lost in all the curves and lines of his perfect body.

Hidan watched as Suzume's eyes slowly tinted as she lost herself in his body. He relaxed his head and closed his eyes as he focused on her touches. They were like agony to him. She only used her finger tips to lightly press against him. He had always like the rougher aspect of foreplay and sex, but having such a light touch against him was a torture he didn't know he needed. He felt his own hands wanting to roam her body again. To feel her soft flesh against his rough hands. He squeezed her hips in a poor effort to keep them in one spot. He opened his mouth to allow more air in his lungs as he found himself losing his battle for self control. He felt Suzume move back slightly and, in that action brushed over his pants, sending a small amount of friction down over his member.

"Ahh...Fuck I want you."

Hidan let out a small moan and whispered as he dug his fingers into Suzume's hips. Bringing her hips down onto his, again sending a shiver through him. He rolled his hips up to meet hers as he need for more friction intensified.

Suzume felt his hips push into hers as a tingling sensation ran up her spine. Her head tilted back as the tips of her nails gripped Hidan's skin.

Hidan opened his eyes and watched as Suzume closed her eyes and let her head fall back. He saw her mouth open as her breath hitched from his action. He realized he didn't just want her. He needed her. He needed to hear her call out his name. He needed her to only look at him, to only be by his side for all of time.

Losing his internal battle he wrapped one arm back around Suzume's waist and the other around her head. In one smooth motion he rolled both of them so that he was now on top.

Suzume was snapped out of her daze and looked at the man above her. She noticed that Hidan's eyes had a glaze to them, almost like he was lost in his own mind. As his face crept closer to hers she felt her chest tighten and her breath hitched.

"Hidan."

Her voice was little more than a whisper. Her brain still trying to registar normal functions after getting lost in Hidan's body.

Hidan leaned his face down to Suzume's ear as he took his hand out from behind her head and placed it on the neckline of her robe.

"Yeah….Say my name just like that."

He needed to hear her say his name. He needed to know that he was the only one she was thinking about. That every part of her belonged to him and him alone.

He pulled the neckline of her robe away to make room for his mouth as he began to bite and suck on her neck. It didn't take him long to find one of her sweet spots as she arched her back in approval.

Suzume found herself letting out small moans and pants as Hidan worked on her neck. Her hands wrapped themselves around Hidan's neck as she turned her head to give Hidan more room to work on.

Hidan was lost in the smooth skin and sea of long brown hair to have any more restraint. He heard Suzume's soft pants and moans wich only gave him more confidence with his actions. He moved his right hand from her hip to the knot on her robe, becoming slightly mad when he found she had tied it a little too well for him to get undone with one hand. He discarded the idea as a new one quickly popped into his mind. He moved his hand back up and grasped the other side of Suzume's robe at the neck. He shifted himself to give her one last rough suck on her neck before moving to her lips. He felt her hands begin to tangle in his silver hair egging him on even more. In one swift motion her pulled the opening in her robe apart, revealing her breasts.

"Ahh Hida-"

Suzume opened her mouth to protest but was silenced by Hidan's tongue. She didn't know what to do with the new sensation. She let Hidan explore her mouth while also trying to mimic some of his movements. She felt him take his weight off her as his hands came under him. Without breaking their kiss she felt Hidan grasp her breast and begin to knead them in his hands. Her body felt like it was moving on its own as her back once again arched off of the floor.

Hidan played with Suzume's breast for a few seconds before he found what he was really after. Placing his index finger and thumb around the pink bud that was perked up from her breasts he began to roll them between his fingers. Hearing Suzume's moans become louder through their kiss he took his mouth off of hers and began back down her neck to her sweet spot.

Suzume tightened her grip on Hidan's head as he played with her nipples. She felt her body begin to shake and writhe against Hidan's. Her breathing was deep and she felt small beads of sweat forming on her body. Her thoughts going a million miles a second.

'Why does this feel so different from last night? What's happening to my body?'

Suzume felt an involuntary jerk as her back and hips pushed themselves up to meet Hidan's body.

Hidan couldn't take anymore of her teasing. He slid his right arm down and found the slit in her robe. Gliding his fingers up Suzume's thigh he let his nails graze over her skin. He felt her legs quiver under his touch as he moved his hand higher. He felt her legs strain against his hips as they instinctively tried to close. As he grazed his hand against her he felt her breath hitch in her chest. He began to move his hand back and forth, only taking one or two strokes before finding her sweet spot.

Suzume's hands tightened in Hidan's hair as he played with her. She felt her breathing become more shallow as her body was overtaken by pleasure.

'Do I want all of this?'

Hidan hit her bundle of nerves again with his hand.

'Yes.'

'Am I ready for this?'

Hidan slid his hand back to her entrance, making a small circle around it.

'I don't know… Do I want this?'

Suzume let her eyes creep open as she felt Hidan get into a routine of stoking her then moving down and circling her entrance.

'I'm not sure anymore…. I don't know if I'm sure of anything anymore.'

Suzume battled with herself inside her head. Past memories appeared that had no business being there.

'What would Hanabi say?... What would Baki think? … What if Hiro was still alive?'

Suzume felt Hidan shift as he now focused his attention on just her entrance. Making small circles around it and gliding his finger across her opening.

Suzume fought her mind to keep the only person she didn't want to see out of it. Trying to calm herself she closed her eyes again and laid her head back against the floor. Just as she closed her eyes she felt Hidan's finger slip inside of her and a pair of teal eyes came into her mind.

Suzume's eyes shot open as she pushed herself away form Hidan. He watched her as she scooted herself back a few feet, grasping at the openings of her robe and tightly closing them. He sat there in shock as he tried to read the expression on her face. It was almost terror. He looked down at his right hand and found no blood.

'It shouldn't have hurt, I didn't break it. She was so wet it just slipped right in… so…. Why is she looking at me like that? She never said stop?'

Hidan's head raced with questions as to why Suzume had acted the way she did, but could find no answer.

Suzume felt herself begin to shake as she clutched her robe.

'Why? Why did I think about him?'

Suzume brought her hand up to her face as she felt tears trying to escape fer eyes. She looked back at Hidan, his expression was a mix of concern and shock. Suzume looked away from Hidan, unable to face him after what her mind just did to her.

Hidan watched as Suzume struggled with her mind. Unsure about if he should comfort her or if his touch would set her off. He opted to wait her out, praying it was the right choice.


End file.
